(DANA REYNOLDS / iNFOnews.ca)
August 13, 2015 - 2:35 PM
KAMLOOPS – An end is in sight for the recycling strike that has lasted nearly eight weeks in Kamloops after the Steelworker’s Union reached an agreement with Emterra Environmental today.
The two sides reached a tentative deal Thursday, Aug. 13, and employees are set to vote on it this evening.
Marty Gibbons, Steelworkers’ Union president, says his members will receive a new four-year contract with a roughly 22.5 per cent increase over the term of the contract. This works out to an extra dollar an hour in the first year and five per cent increases over the next three years.
This evening the union members — those ten individuals who have been on strike since June 22 — will vote to ratify the contract. If they agree to the contract they will be back at work Friday morning.
“There is always a chance the union could tell us we're idiots,” Gibbons says, but notes he feels strongly the vote will pass.
He says his members have been part of the process the entire way and nothing in the agreement will come as a surprise.
“We’re quite pleased with it,” Gibbons says, adding he couldn’t speculate as to why the agreement took as long as it did. “We want to thank all the citizens of Kamloops, we’ve received a tremendous amount of support, and want to apologize for the inconvenience we put them through.”
Emterra Environmental holds a contract to sort all of the city's recycling and as a result curbside pick-up of recycling ceased when the strike began. City staff were unavailable to comment on when recycling pickup would resume.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Dana Reynolds at dreynolds@infonews.ca or call 250-819-6089. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015