ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada is renewing three collective agreements with its employees, including improvements to the defined benefit pension plan, disability benefits and life insurance.
The new six-year agreements were ratified by 800 unionized employees. For the DB plan, the agreements include a total $9 increase in the monthly pension credit, so at the end of six years, employees will receive $68 per month per year of service, up from the previous $59 a month. The plan is fully funded by the employer with no employee contributions.
The agreements also include an increase in the amounts for various health specialists’ services, an increase for families in life insurance and disability benefits and a wage increase of $9 per hour, which represents a 26 per cent increase in average wages, according to a press release.
Read: New collective agreements for FCL, GFL staff include benefits improvements
In addition, the company is introducing a four-day, 10-hour schedule, new flexibility for rotating shifts and a new Saturday premium.
“This new contract is a step forward for the industry,” said Hugues Fauville, vice-president of human resources, in the release. “We’re innovating by putting forward, on one hand, work-life balance and just-in-time flexibility, which gives us a competitive advantage to serve our local and international clients on the other. In this way, we’re concretely addressing the labour shortage that we’re all facing.”