Security personnel on the Commissionaires Canada payroll in Ontario can expect an hourly wage increase of $2 effective April 6, reflecting their current status as essential provincial workers and the front line pressures they face related to COVID-19. The company is also promising administrative support for workers who will be applying for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit due to temporary layoffs.

“We will maintain the premium for as long as this crisis lasts or at least as long as we can financially sustain it,” Commissionaires pledged in its communications to UFCW Local 333, the union representing the company’s employees in Ontario. “We hope security clients will agree to show their support, and we hope other security agencies will follow our lead.”

“Our members provide a variety of security services at numerous federal government and other private sector worksites,” says UFCW Local 333 President Richard McNaughton. “They are front line workers providing an essential job, and we are glad that after consultation with the employer, the Commissionaires have decided to assist their employees, our members, by giving them a $2-an-hour wage increase during this crisis. This is the right thing to do.”