Maple City Residence Employees Unanimously Ratify Contract Providing Much-Needed Wage Increases
Chatham, ON—Employees of Maple City Residence Ltd., a retirement home in Chatham, unanimously ratified a three-year collective agreement providing them with much-needed wage increases and other improvements.
The employees are represented by Southwestern Ontario Healthcare and Service Workers Union, CLAC Local 303. The union has represented Maple City Residence employees for 40 years come this May.
The new contract provides a $1 per hour wage increase for all classifications in the first year, effective October 1, 2022 (which works out to a 5 to 6.5 precent increase), and three percent increases in both years two and three, which works out total wage increases over the term of between 11 to 12.5 percent. In addition, the uniform allowance increases to 10 cents per hour, weekend premium increases to 45 cents per hour, part-time premium in-lieu-of-benefits premium increases to 65 cents per hour, and the in-charge premium/UCP increases to $1.55 per hour.
Improvements were also made to employees’ benefits coverage. Employee life insurance payout increases from $30,000 to $35,000, dependent life increases from $5,000 to $10,000, and dependent child life insurance increases from $2,500 to $5,000. The drug prescription deductible dropped from $5 per prescription to $1.
In addition, the contract provides improved job posting and bereavement language, introduction of language to address pay errors, improved language to guarantee a minimum of three hours work or pay for a scheduled shift, and new language to recognize previous related experience of new hires.
“A unanimous acceptance of this voluntary settlement recognizes the good work of the union bargaining committee and of an employer willing to hear the concerns of its workers and hoping to address attraction and retention issues,” says Ryan Griffioen, CLAC representative. “We hope more retirement home employers recognize that similar voluntary settlements are necessary to address the staffing crisis and general low morale in the industry, and that the meager arbitration patterns are simply not enough and will only prolong the staffing problems as healthcare providers compete for workers.”
Maple City Residence employs 29 Local 303 members working as healthcare aides, personal support workers, unregulated care providers, housekeeping and dietary aides, cooks, and maintenance staff.