The Alberta Worker
These workers unionized back in March and were able to negotiate their first collective agreement in just 3 months, getting wage increases, health benefits, paid vacations, sick leave, bereavement leave, overtime, and a clothing allowance.
These workers, which include municipal workers who work inside and outside, finally have a new contract, which includes significant wage increases.
Unfortunately, it won’t be enough to cover increases in inflation.
If successful, 7 concrete workers will be unionized at their Fort Saskatchewan plant.
If successful, nearly a dozen fire alarm technicians in Northern Alberta will be unionized.
These workers had been waiting since May.
I recently searched through data on temporary foreign workers approved to work in Canada, and most of Alberta’s were for low-wage workers.
This is much higher than what they got in their last contract but will do hardly anything to help them make up the loss in real wages due to inflation.
They also get 3 years of wage freezes, and that’s on top of frozen wages from their previous contract.
And yet Alberta still had the third largest unemployment rate in the country.