No Frills workers vote to ratify new agreement

The union that represents 1,265 workers at No Frills stores across Ontario have voted to ratify a new collective agreement.

The contract covers 19 No Frills stores in Ontario.

"We've negotiated prescription drug coverage for eligible part-time workers – this is a first," said Christine Connor, president of Unifor Local 414 414

The union also secured significant wage increases over the life of the agreement for both full and part-time workers, ranging from 6 to 9%.

Other gains include call in pay provisions for part-time workers, to help guard against on-call scheduling, and a new hire wage scale that protects part-time workers wage against inflation.

Unifor is one of Canada's largest retail worker unions with more than 20,000 members working in supermarkets, pharmacies, appliance stores and other retail shops.

In July, Unifor 414 also reached an agreement preventing 4,000 workers in 28 Metro stores in the Toronto area to strike.