Workers avoid what would have been first strike in 40 years
Telecommunications workers in Winnipeg will be getting a wage increase after ratifying their collective agreement with the company.
Manitoba Telecom Services (MTS) and more than 1,200 of their professional and managerial staff, represented by the Telecommunications Employees Association of Manitoba (TEAM), agreed to the deal on July 29.
The union reported that the three-year deal comes with a two per cent wage increase in 2013 and 2014, as well as a 1.75 per cent increase in 2015. MTS negotiators also won a compressed work week, remote working call-out pay minimums and more coverage for vision care. Vacation and overtime allowances will go unchanged.
In mid-July, MTS employees voted to authorize strike action — something never before done in the union’s 40-year history. The earliest that strike could have taken place was July 16.
