Employees at Vast Auto Distribution in Brampton, Ont. are striking over wages and benefits.
The main issue, according to Unifor’s national representative Paulo Ribeiro, is that the Brampton workers earn between $12.70 and $14.80 an hour while the organization’s employees in Montreal earn between $18 and $22 an hour for doing the same work. He also points out that Ontario competitors pay their workers between $18.50 and $19.50 an hour.
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“Not only are they paying poverty-level wages, they’re forcing these workers to pay for their benefits,” Ribeiro says, noting the workers pay $120 for a “minor” benefits package.
“We have asked the company to provide the cost of benefits because we are suspicious that it was supposed to be a 50 per cent pay from workers and 50 per cent from the employer, but we are becoming suspicious that employees might be paying for the total cost of benefits,” Ribeiro says.
“So we have asked for that information and we are waiting for the company to provide that, but at this time, we are not talking.”
Vast Auto Workers has not responded to Benefits Canada‘s request for comment.
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