Around 400 unionized, airline catering workers at Vancouver International Airport, who had threatened to strike, have reached a tentative deal with their Swiss-based employer, Gate Gourmet.
Last Friday evening, a new three-year contract has been pencilled between the UNITE Here 40 Local’s negotiating team and Gate Gourmet that, according to the union, “achieves fair wage increases, restores overtime on the sixth and seventh days of work and addresses treatment of workers returning to work after illness or injury, among other issues.
The tentative agreement, announced on Monday, averts a strike by the inflight catering workers — mainly production staff and drivers — who had issued a 72-hour strike notice on Tuesday, Aug. 16.
“After weeks of hard bargaining, we’ve got a deal that addresses the rising cost of living in Vancouver, as well as other respect issues in the workplace,” said Phillip Lin, a high lift driver and a member of the negotiating team, in a press release.
“Going forward, we are happy to settle a contract that will make sure workers can securely take part in the company’s growing prosperity.”
Further details of the deal will be released after union members have had an opportunity to review the tentative agreement. Workers will hold a ratification vote this week, according to the union.
Last week, the Richmond News reported how the workers were preparing to strike over what their union called “a lack of honesty” from their employer, one of the biggest in the global, inflight catering industry.
The union claimed its members were promised they would be rewarded for agreeing to a wage freeze three years ago, when the airline industry was in an apparent slump.
However, despite the Swiss-based corporate giant, whose customers include Air Canada, British Airways, Air China, United and American airlines, picking up several major contracts in recent years, the union claimed all that was being offered was a one per cent raise.
The majority of the 400 or so workers are immigrants from China and other parts of the globe.
A Gate Gourmet spokesperson told the News last week that details of the negotiations were confidential.
