L’ISLE-AUX-GRUES, Que. – United Steelworkers/Syndicat des Métallos members working on the L’Isle-aux-Grues ferry crossing have voted 61% in favour of a new collective agreement with the Société des traversiers du Québec (STQ), the agency that runs the province’s marine ferry services.
The L’Isle-aux-Grues ferry workers voted Wednesday to ratify the terms of a contract proposed by a conciliator who was appointed to try to resolve the protracted stalemate between the STQ and unionized employees at three ferry crossings along the St. Lawrence River.
Similar contract proposals from the conciliator were ratified earlier this week in separate votes by USW members who work on the Sorel ferry crossing and on the L’Isle-aux-Coudres crossing. Another group of USW members, consisting of navigation officers and ship engineer officers at the STQ, ratified a new contract in June. Workers in all four bargaining units are members of USW/Syndicat des Métallos Local 9599.
The proposal ratified by USW Local 9599 members this week calls for a five-year contract, two years of which have elapsed. The agreement provides total wage increases of 17.4%, as well as cost-of-living provisions for the contract’s last three years that could increase wages by a further 1% each year. The wage increases mirror agreements reached by workers in Quebec’s greater public sector.
The ferry workers’ new contract also provides a new level on the wage scale to provide more-experienced workers with an additional wage increase of 1% retroactive to April 1 this year and another 1% hike on April 1, 2026. The contract also improves pensions and personal leave provisions, similar to agreements reached by public-sector workers.
“This puts an end to a difficult negotiating cycle. The members found this contract acceptable, even though they worked for two years without any wage increases,” said USW staff representative Luc Laberge.
The United Steelworkers/Syndicat des Métallos, affiliated with the Quebec Federation of Labour, is the largest private-sector union in Quebec, representing more than 60,000 workers in all sectors of the economy.
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