BMTC locks out DC staff

MONTREAL – BMTC Group has announced a lockout of its employees working in its distribution centre here for an indefinite period.

In a statement, the company said a dispute has arisen concerning the type of pension plan to be offered to future employees.

The current collective agreement with the employees expired on December 31, 2015.

“Essentially, the corporation (BMTC) has agreed to keep unchanged, for the benefit of current employees, the defined benefit pension plan but has proposed that new employees hired following the renewal of the collective agreement would benefit from a defined contribution pension plan rather than from a defined benefit pension plan,” the publicly-held operator of Brault & Martineau, EconoMax and Ameublements Tanguay said in a statement.

It also said customers should be assured that operations in all of its stores and its customer service are not affected by the lockout and delivery operations will continue without interruption.

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