Whistler Transit drivers will receive a pay raise of 29 per cent over four years as a result of a contract agreement reached recently between Whistler Transit and their union, Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Local 114.

Housekeeping workers who are members of the CAW Local 3000 at both the Westin Resort and Spa and the Residence Inn by Marriott also will see their wages increase as a result of new, separate collective bargaining agreements, officials said.

The Whistler Transit deal, announced by CAW officials on Monday (March 9), will see the drivers’ wages increase from $22.33 an hour now to $28.90 by the end of 2012, said Pete Smith, CAW national representative. Whistler Transit employs about 80 drivers in high season.

The deal brings the Whistler Transit drivers in line with what drivers at Coast Mountain Bus Co. in the Lower Mainland are making, Smith said in a statement.

“Whistler Transit drivers were determined to get the Coast Mountain rates,” he told The Question.

Housekeepers with the CAW Local 3000 at the Westin will see an increase of 11.5 per cent over three years, starting with a 6.5 per cent hike in the first year.

Housekeeping staff at the Marriott, meanwhile, will see an increase of 9.5 per cent over three years — four per cent in the first year, 3.5 per cent in the second year and 2.5 per cent in the third year.

With local CAW contract negotiations now complete for 2008, the union is turning its attention to 2009 negotiations. Smith said the contacts for CAW housekeeping staff at the Tantalus Lodge and Mountainside Lodge are up for renegotiation this year.