ILWU Canada president Tom Dufresne said the union’s top goals in talks are to retain a supplementary pension and First Aid attendants, in the face of possible cuts, and to expand maternity and paternity benefits.
“We’re looking for some top-up on maternity and paternity leave, because right now all we have is what’s contained in the Canada labour code and we’re looking for some improvement on that to top people’s wages up to 95% of earnings,” he said. “It’s an inexpensive item – about $0.10 an hour, we figure.”
For now, he said, the BCMEA is resisting the idea of a maternity and paternity leave top-up “quite vociferously.”