The Town of Lake Cowichan and USW Local 1-1937 have ratified a deal for municipal workers that sees a 45 cent an hour raise in the first year and one per cent increments every six months for three more years.
USW business agent Chris Cinkant said Wednesday, June 15, "We had our meeting yesterday. We brought it to a vote and it passed. Council's also agreed, too, so we have an agreement."
It took the threat of a strike and some 11th hour talking to get the deal and the workers' vote shows there's still some unhappiness, he said.
"The mandate was 64 per cent. There are 16 employees involved, and 14 voted. So, that's obviously a percentage that shows there's still some work to do, there are still some hard feelings," Clinkant said.
"It's not a clear mandate, but we've learned from this tough set of negotiations and we'll bring forward what we learned from this process to 2017."