A team of heavy construction workers in Chatham has a new contract in place.
Employees of Clarke Construction Inc., represented by the Construction Workers Union CLAC Local 53, have ratified a three-year collective agreement.
The 100-member group, which includes labourers, equipment operators, truck drivers, and mechanics, voted 67% in favour of the new contract, securing wage increases of 12 percent over the term.
The agreement also includes annual increases of $0.10 per hour to retirement contributions, improvements to life insurance and vision coverage, a $100 increase to the boot allowance, and increases to travel and living-out allowances.
“It was a solid round of bargaining,” bargaining committee member and union steward Jason Turkington said in a news release. “It forced us to consider how members would be paid fairly in the face of continued inflation on items such as food and energy, while also ensuring that our employer would remain competitive and gain projects as the country deals with a possible recession. In the end, we were able to responsibly deal with those issues.”
Clarke Construction provides services such as road reconstruction, site servicing, bridge construction, and municipal infrastructure installation, including water, sanitary, and storm sewer systems in the Chatham area and across southwestern Ontario.