SNOLAB says workers have agreed to new collective agreement

SNOLAB confirms 52 striking workers agreed to a new collective agreement, ending a strike that lasted almost one month.

Striking members of United Steelworkers local 2020-59 will soon be returning to work.

In a news release issued late Friday, SNOLAB has confirmed its 52 employees who have been walking the picket line for a month now, voted to accept a four-year settlement offer.

“This is excellent news for SNOLAB, and for Canada’s innovation sector,” said SNOLAB Executive Director Jodi Cooley.

“SNOLAB strives to provide a world-leading environment for exploring priority questions about the origins and nature of the universe and that includes providing an attractive work environment offering competitive wages and excellent benefits,” Cooley added.

The agreement will provide cost of living salary increases and will extend new family leave benefits to unionized workers.

Workers had voted back in April to reject what they had called a ‘substandard final offer’ from the employer.

“These workers have made SNOLAB a world-class research facility, but they’re struggling. They’re not looking to get rich – they just want respect and to be able to afford to live,” United Steelworkers Area Coordinator Pascal Boucher said at the time.