3.01      Definition of Seniority

1. Seniority is defined as the length of an employee’s employment with the Company, calculated from the date he/she was first employed with the Company or, in the case of former employees of Andres Wines Ltd. transferred to Canrim pursuant to the Consent Order of the Labour Relations Board dated December 29, 2005, the date specified in Schedule “C” of the Consent Order.
   
   
2. In the event that the employee loses his/her seniority and subsequently resumes employment, subject to the provisions of the Agreement, his/her seniority shall be calculated from the date that he/she resumed employment with the Company.

3.02      Loss of Seniority

An employee will lose his/her seniority and cease to be an employee of the Company for any of the following reasons:

1. Discharge for just cause.
   
   
2. Voluntary resignation of the employee.
   
   
3. Retirement in accordance with the Company’s retirement policy.
   
   
4. Failure to return to work within five working days from the date of original notice to do so sent to the last address as shown by Company records. Copy of such notice to be given to the Union.
   
   
5. Continuous lay-off for a period exceeding one calendar year.
   
   
6. If he/she accepts gainful employment while on a granted leave of absence.
   
   
7. If he/she fails to return to work within three working days from any leave of absence, or if an employee is unable to do so, submit satisfactory evidence to the Company for such inability; or
   
   
8. If he/she accepts a position with the Company outside of the bargaining unit, he/she will lose his/her seniority if he/she does not return to the bargaining unit within thirty days.
   
   
9. If he/she fails to return to work when recalled on five or more occasions in any twelve-month period unless agreed to by the Company.
   
   
10. If he/she is absent from work for five consecutive working days without having received prior permission from the Company, where that is possible to do so.
    
    
11. Notwithstanding (5) above, if an employee with less than one year of seniority is laid off for thirteen consecutive weeks.

3.03      Loss of Benefits

1. In the event that an employee loses seniority, all employment benefits shall cease immediately.
   
   
2. Employees on layoff, Short or Long Term Disability, or WCB shall be provided benefit coverage as stated in Article 11.03.

3.04      New Employees

1. New employees shall be hired in accordance with Letter of Understanding No. 2 and Letter of Understanding No. 3.
   
   
2. New employees are deemed to be on a trial basis for the first forty-five days worked from the day they started with the Company. Such trial period shall be for the purpose of determining the employee’s suitability for employment. During such period he/she shall be paid the job rate specified herein (ie: permit, casual, trades). In the event an employee is dismissed during his/her trial period, the reasons shall be given to the Union in writing.
   
   
3. Permit card employees shall be deemed to be on a trial basis for the first sixty days worked from the date they started with the Company and during that period they shall receive the permit card rate for all hours worked during that period. Such trial period shall be for the purpose of determining the employee’s suitability for employment. Thereafter they shall receive the casual rate and benefit package as detailed in Article 3.05 until such time as they achieve regular status. Days worked at the permit card rate shall accrue towards regular status.

3.05      Casual Employees

1. Upon completion of the trial period the new employee shall become a casual employee.
   
   
2. Casual employees shall be entitled to benefits only as set out in this Article, upon successful completion of their trial period:
   
   
   1. MSP and Extended Health Plan;
      
      
   2. Group Life and A.D.&D. - $25,000;
      
      
   3. Three sick days per year, pro-rated in the employee’s first and last years of employment according to the number of months worked in those years;
      
      
   4. Boot Allowance of $100.00;
      
      
   5. Statutory holiday pay pro rated in accordance with the following formula providing the employee is not absent without the Company’s permission on the last workday scheduled for said employee prior to the Statutory holiday.

      No. of days worked x eight hours pay
      ____________________________________
          The 20 previous working days
      

   6. Dental allowance of $1,000.00 per family, per year (Plan A only).
      
      
   7. One day of bereavement leave for day of funeral, on the same basis as Article 8.04.
      
      
   8. Up to five days of jury duty pay on the same basis as Article 8.03.
      
      
3. Casual employees shall qualify for full benefits when they have accumulated 132 days worked in any 12 consecutive months, or upon attaining three years’ seniority (this period shall be referred to as the “benefit qualifying period”). However, after 45 days worked, they are eligible for a “mini benefits” package in accordance with Article 3.05(b) above.
   
   
4. Casual employees who do not work a total of thirty full or part shifts in a twelve-month period shall lose their seniority and cease to be an employee of the Company.

3.06 Procedure Regarding Layoffs

Step 1
Should it become necessary to reduce the regular working force, all permit card help must be laid-off before any Union members shall be laid-off.
Step 2
If further reduction of staff is necessary, then firstly casual Union employees and secondly regular status Union employees shall be laid off in order of their seniority as defined in Article 3.01.


The last member hired shall be the first member to be laid-off and so on, in that order, providing the more senior employee has the necessary skills and training and is willing and able to perform the duties required in a satisfactory manner.

No employee of the Company other than a member of the Union shall do the work of a journeyman, except in the case of an immediate emergency involving loss of property or product.

When staff is augmented after layoff, members shall be returned to work on the basis of seniority, the member with the greatest seniority being returned first and so on, in that order, providing the more senior employee has the necessary skills and training and is willing and able to perform the duties required in a satisfactory manner.

The Company shall make every effort to schedule employees in a manner that respects seniority in any situation where a senior employee would otherwise be laid off.

When an employee is recalled and arrives for work after the normal start time for the position for which he/she has been recalled, he/she shall be given the option of completing a full shift providing there is work available.

3.07      Severance Pay

1. A regular employee who has been or is expected to be laid off for a period of twelve consecutive months due to lack of work or technological change may take his/her severance allowance at any time during his/her lay off, or he/she may wait the full twelve months and take his/her severance when he/she loses his/her seniority but in any event he/she ceases to be an employee upon receipt of the severance package.
   
   
2. Severance payments shall not be made:
   
   
   1. to employees who have not completed their probationary period.
      
      
   2. to employees who are discharged for just cause.
      
      
   3. to employees who voluntarily resign.
      
      
   4. to employees who are retiring on pension.
      
      
   5. in the event of closing due to Acts of God, public enemy, war, or disaster beyond the control of the Company.
      
      
   6. to permit card holders.
      
      
   7. to employees who lost seniority pursuant to 3.02(9),(10) or (11).
      
      
3. Severance pay shall be paid as outlined in the following table:

                  Seniority             Days of Pay
   
          1 but less than 2 years         15 days
          2 but less than 3 years         20 days
          3 but less than 4 years         25 days
          4 but less than 5 years         30 days
          5 but less than 6 years         35 days
          6 but less than 7 years         40 days
          Up to 15 years and 85 days.	
   

   Sixteen years and up at the rate of nine days pay per year of seniority to a maximum of two hundred sixty days.
   
   
4. The weeks of severance pay, plus earned vacation and sick leave entitlement, will not exceed the number of weeks remaining to the employee’s normal retirement date.

3.08      Job Postings, Selection, Training and Trial Period

1. Whenever a job vacancy, new job, or spare posting is created in any department of the Company’s operations, the Company shall post a standard notice on the bulletin board in each department for at least five calendar days soliciting the names of employees who wish to apply to fill such vacancy.
   
   
2. The standard application form to be used for posting on the bulletin boards shall specify the type of job vacancy, outline of the work required, length of training period as mutually agreed between the Union and the Company, and, wherever possible, the approximate conditions of temperature and humidity to which the employee will be exposed.
   
   
3. copy of said notice shall be given to a member of the Union Committee prior to the date of posting.
   
   
4. All said postings to be dated, numbered and processed in order.
   
   
5. Any job vacancy, which the Company intends to fill shall be posted within five days of becoming vacant or available. The successful applicant shall commence the training period within twenty days of the position being awarded providing there is a suitable replacement available and the position is active.
   
   
6. Vacancies for full time postings, new jobs or spare postings shall be filled by the most senior suitable applicant who has the capabilities and willingness to do the job. Notwithstanding anything contained herein to the contrary, promotions to better paid jobs or to other jobs at the same rate of pay shall be based upon an initial trial period of up to thirty working days.
   
   
7. During the training period, the employee will continue to earn the base rate received in his/her previous position. Upon completion of the training period and commencement of the trial period, the employee will receive the base rate applicable for the new position. When the employee successfully completes the trial period and is posted in the new position, he/she will receive the base rate for the new position.
   
   
8. Notification of the successful applicant shall be announced within five days of removal date of said posting.
   
   
9. In the event differences arise which cannot normally be settled as to which of the applicants should be given a trial to fill the posted vacancy, the matter shall, within three days after the said differences arise, be dealt with under the Grievance Procedure, starting with Step 2 of Article 9.04.
   
   
10. Notwithstanding anything contained herein, it is understood and agreed that promotions to better paid jobs or to other jobs at the same rate of pay, shall be based on the employee’s seniority, willingness, initiative and, if necessary, his/her capability to do the work. Nothing in this section contained shall abrogate the right of any grievance if an employee feels that he/she has been discriminated against as a result of any such promotion.
    
    
11. Notices of appointments to vacancies and/or newly created positions shall be posted on the bulletin board for thirty calendar days so as to allow qualified employees on W.C.B., sick leave, leave of absence or vacation an opportunity to apply for these positions within five working days of their return.
    
    
12. It is understood and agreed that employees being trained shall be supernumerary to the regular workforce and that their training period shall be on a consecutive basis rather than on an intermittent basis.
    
    
13. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Company may temporarily assign any employee to do any job for up to 60 consecutive shifts.
    
    
14. In the event an employee who holds a posting is ill or injured to the extent that he/she is off work in excess of one year, the Company shall repost said posting, on an interim basis, on the understanding that should the employee recover and return to work, his/her original posting would take precedence. The person displaced would then have the interim posting reduced to a spare posting.
    
    
15. Employees who successfully complete their training and trial period shall be required to maintain their posting for eighteen months (twenty-four months in positions requiring long term training, i.e. cellars). Thereafter they shall be permitted to bid off or resign their position. It is understood however that they may be required to remain on their posting until such time as a suitable replacement has been trained.

3.09      Seniority Respecting Overtime

1. Subject to the efficient operation of the Company, it is agreed that in the event it is necessary to work overtime in any department, employees shall be acquired in the order of their seniority within the department to do such overtime work.
   
   
2. For the purposes of allocating overtime, employees working in the Section concerned who are capable of doing the work required will be asked first in order of their seniority. If sufficient volunteers are not obtained, employees working in the Department will then be asked in order of seniority, and then, if necessary Plant wide on a seniority and capability basis. For the purpose of the above, satellite warehouses shall be considered as a separate section.
   
   
3. In the event it is necessary to work overtime at the end of a shift for the purpose of finishing off job assignments, cellar blends or production runs, and the overtime is initially refused by all capable employees on shift, the Company shall have the right to order the most junior capable employees on shift to work such overtime up to a maximum of one hour. However, if the overtime required is expected to last more than two hours and there are capable employees on layoff, the Company shall recall said employees rather than ordering employees to work the overtime.
   
   
4. The following groups shall be recognized as “departments” whenever the word is used throughout this Agreement:
   
   
   1. Maintenance Department
      • Engineering Section
      • Electrical Section
      • Maintenance Shop Section
      • Changeover Mechanics Section
      
      
   2. Wine Department
      
      
   3. Beer Department
      • Brewing Section
      • Processing Section
      
      
   4. Packaging Department
      • Bottling Section
      • Warehouse Section
      • Kegging
      • Clean Up
      
      
   5. Quality Assurance Department
      
   
   
5. New departments that may be established by the Company and which fall under the jurisdiction of the certification shall be added to the above listed departments.