Screening officers at the Kamloops Airport have a new collective agreement.

President of the United Steelworkers Union Local 1-417 Marty Gibbons says the deal was ratified earlier this month.

Gibbons says the deal includes back pay, regular raises going forward and improved benefits.

“I was hearing from some of our members at Kamloops that the retroactive cheques would be in the neighborhood of $5,000 dollars. So we’re really happy with that,” he says.

“Bargaining was very difficult. There were some difficult items on the table, around shifting and other issues that we were successful getting off the table and signing a collective agreement with the pay – I’m not going to go out and say exactly what the pay increases were – but we are very pleased it’s done.”

Gibbons says there are more than 25 screening officers who work at YKA.

The deal between the Union and G4S is retroactive to early 2018, and will expire again in May of 2021.

“We’re back at the bargaining table next year and we plan on getting it done a lot faster,” Gibbons says.