(Montreal) The United Food and Commercial Workers union, which represents 1,554 workers at the Desjardins Card Service, signed its new collective agreement on Wednesday.

The union members had voted 93% in favor of the agreement in principle which had been reached regarding the renewal of their collective agreement.

These Desjardins Card Service employees work in Montreal and Trois-Rivières. The financial institution community is known to be poorly unionized.

The collective agreement will be in effect until 2028. It first provides for a reassessment of jobs which results in a repositioning of the majority of workers in the salary scale, therefore an increase which will vary according to the employee.

Then, it provides salary increases of up to 8.3%, depending on the employee’s performance and the salary scale.

“We are proud of this agreement which meets the needs of our members while ensuring a strong and constructive working relationship with the employer,” commented UFCW 500 President Antonio Filato.

For his part, Desjardins said he was “satisfied with the agreement reached with the UFCW union, which represents approximately 1,500 Desjardins employees. It is an agreement that is to the benefit of all parties and the negotiations were conducted in a cordial manner.”

The UFCW union, affiliated with the FTQ, also points out that telework, which was already practiced by this employer before the COVID-19 pandemic, is an integral part of the collective agreement through a letter of agreement determines working conditions. The union and the employer are committed to working to find a balance in this matter, now that the pandemic is behind us.