FORT FRANCES, ON — Employees of an Indigenous-based child welfare agency in northwestern Ontario have approved their first collective agreement as members of Unifor.
Union representative Stephen Boon says about 30 staff members at Weechi-it-te-win Family Services will get total wage increases of 7.25 per cent over four years..
Among other provisions, the agreement also provides for 15 annual sick days, two paid emergency leave days, 14 statutory holidays, and a retirement allowance which Boon described as "generous," amounting to one week per year of service.
Weechi-it-te-win is based near Fort Frances and serves Anishinaabe residents of 10 First Nations in the Districts of Rainy River and Kenora.
Boon said Unifor Local 324 members "were very pleased with key monetary improvements and the solid contract language achieved in their first contract."
He said the 14 paid stat holidays include the standard ones found in other workplaces as well as Aboriginal Solidarity Day on June 21 and Treaty Signing Day on Oct. 3.
According to Boon, 14 "is definitely on the high side for most workplaces, but there was a shared effort to recognize culturally important holidays."
