Campbellton:  A month after being locked out by the City of Campbellton, CUPE Local 76 members, the city’s outside workers, will be back on the job on Monday.

The Local reached a tentative agreement late yesterday afternoon after three days of mediation. The members accepted the offer last evening.

“This was a very difficult round of bargaining.  We are very disappointed with the way our employer behaved”, said George Parker, President of CUPE Local 76.

“At the end of the day, we were able to keep our Defined Benefit Pension Plan and we pushed back on contracting out. We now have a minimum of 25 members guaranteed under our collective agreement.  As well, for the length of this contract, no current employees can be laid off or have their hours of work reduced due to contracting out the work of the bargaining unit”, added Parker.

“The membership was overwhelmed by the support they received from the citizens of Campbellton.  Every day during this lockout, people showed up on the pickets lines with coffee, sweets, food and money.”

“We can’t thank enough the CUPE members for the financial support they gave us.  CUPE members that we have never met before showed up on the picket lines and walked with us.  We could not have imagined such a show of solidarity,” concluded Parker.