Fredericton’s outside workers head back to work after city, union reach tentative agreement

Fredericton’s outside workers are back at work on Tuesday after the City of Fredericton and CUPE Local 508 reached a tentative agreement on Monday.

CUPE Local 508 represents outside workers in New Brunswick’s capital, which includes snowplow operators, mechanics and staff who maintain the city’s drinking water.

Last week, the union served a strike notice to the city, giving it 24 hours’ notice of strike action.

The city then moved to lock the workers out instead.

Fredericton council held a special meeting on Friday, voting to hire temporary replacement workers with AFIMAC Canada to fill the jobs. Members of the union headed to the picket line on Saturday in response.

The five-year agreement reached by the two sides will put a stop to that plan.

In a press release, the City of Fredericton said the agreement is retroactive to January 2019 and will see outside workers get a one-time wage increase of $1 per hour, plus a two per cent increase tied to New Brunswick’s consumer price index (CPI) for 2019.

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Increases after 2019 will be based “solely” on the CPI, the city said.

Additional details on the contract will be ratified during a future city council meeting.