Hylife Foods employees sign off on new deal

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Published on Thursday, March 26, 2015

By Eoin Devereux

The Neepawa Banner

Employees at HyLife Foods in Neepawa have ratified a new five year deal. Members of the UFCW Local 832, the union representing the majority of the workers, voted on and passed the collective agreement on Monday, Mar. 23 by 73.5 per cent margin.

The vote was held over 14 hours at the plant so members would be able to vote before or after their shift.

The new contract increases wages $1.90 to $2.65 per hour over the life of the agreement.  Members will see additional wage increases, as over $340,000 will be invested in job re-classification. Improvements were also made to all premiums and a new Saturday work premium of $1.50 per hour has been agreed upon and will be introduced.

UFCW Local 832 president Jeff Traeger said they’re very happy to have this deal passed.

“This is a strong contract for all members at the plant,” said Traeger. “Not only do our members benefit from the wage increases, they have better contract language on job postings, vacation entitlement and overtime requests.”

One of the biggest gains for the members was also focused on the protection of their pension plan. Members will transition into a new pension plan that will increase their retirement benefit and the union was successful in ensuring that members would not lose any pension benefit during the transition.