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Unionized employees of the Paccar truck manufacturing plant in Ste-Thérèse, north of Montreal, accepted their employer’s third offer on Sunday, a week after they were locked out.

The plant has 1,400 workers, members of Unifor. According to the union, the deal in principle reached Thursday was accepted by a vote of 86 per cent in favour. About a thousand workers were present for the meeting in Laval.

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Pensions were one of the main points of dispute. After the vote, Unifor’s Quebec director Renaud Gagné said it’s up to the Quebec government to resolve the question of unequal pension plans.

“We’re not going to put 1,400 jobs in jeopardy for a battle that the government should be fighting,” Gagné told journalists.

Unifor said there are two defined benefit pension plans at the company, depending on hiring date. Older employees have a more generous one than more recently hired ones. The difference is about $15 per month per year of service, the union said.

“The premier promised in the election campaign to fix this issue of disparities,” Gagné said. “It has to be corrected. I think it’s up to the government to correct it.”

The new contract gives Local 728 several gains, including better conditions for sick leave, a 15 per cent salary increase over five years, and increases for shift bonuses.

Workers were set to return to the job Sunday night or Monday, depending on their shift.