AHS wants wage freezes for 1 in 5 HSAA workers

Last week, the Health Sciences Association of Alberta published an update on their website regarding contract negotiations with Alberta Health Services.

The HSAA represents about 29,000 paramedical technical, professional, and general support workers in the public and private healthcare sectors of Alberta. This includes technologists, technicians, pharmacists, psychologists, therapists, and paramedics, as well as a wide variety of other such workers.

The HSAA’s most recent collective agreement with AHS expired in March 2024. The agreement also includes HSAA members employed with Bethany Nursing Home of Camrose and Lamont Health Care Centre.

Negotiations on the new contract began in March; however, according to the media release, negotiations broke down last Thursday because of “the employer’s refusal to negotiate wages”.

AHS’s original proposal for wage increases was 7.5% over 4 years.

Year 1	2.00%
Year 2	2.00%
Year 3	1.75%
Year 4	1.75%

This is much better than the wage rollbacks they originally proposed during negotiations for the last contract.

And while 7.5% might sound a lot to some people, there is some context we must keep in mind before jumping to that conclusion.

Here’s a look at the raises they received in their last two contracts.

1 April 2017	0.00%
1 April 2018	0.00%
1 April 2019	0.00%
1 April 2020	0.00%
1 April 2021	1.00%
1 April 2022	1.25%
1 April 2023	2.00%

That’s a combined increase of just 4.25% over an 7-year period, or 4.31% of you account for compounding increases. That works out to 0.61% (0.62%) per year on average.

By comparison, the consumer price index in Alberta had grown from 135.1 in April 2016 to 163.7 in April 2023. That’s an increase of 28.6 points, or 21.17%.

So, while these workers saw their wages increase by just 4.31% over 7 years, inflation more than quadrupled during the same period.

This means these workers ended up with a cut to their real wages—wages adjusted for inflation—of 16.86%.

In other words, for every $1000 these workers made in April 2016, it was worth only $831.40 in April of last year.

Let’s put it another way. For every $1000 they spent on goods and services in April 2016, they’d have to have spent $1168.60 in April 2023 to buy the same goods. Either that, or they could’ve only have afforded $831.40 worth of those goods.

And that’s including their pay raises.

The 7.5% pay increase proposed by AHS isn’t even enough to cover half of the loss in real wages these workers have had to deal with in their last two contracts.

Plus, we haven’t even mentioned the inflation that is sure to happen during the 4 years of the next contract, whenever it’s ratified.

For example, inflation in Alberta increased 2.99% between April 2023 and April 2024. That’s almost half of the proposed combined increase in just the first year of the proposed agreement.

Oh, and get this. AHS doesn’t want to give the measly 7.5% increase to everyone.

They have proposed giving 1 in 5 HSAA members they employ lump sum payments equivalent to the percentage based increases the others would be receiving.

While lump sum payments are better than nothing, they don’t increase their base salary, which is what future pay increases are based on.

If one of those workers was making $40,000 at the end of their last contract but got $3,000 in equivalent lump sum payments, their base salary in the 2028 contract will start at $40,000, not $43,000.

The workers who AHS wants to sacrifice their raises for lump sum payments include nearly 4,500 social workers, speech language pathologists, respiratory therapists, pharmacy technicians, and health information management professionals.

Mike Parker, the president of HSAA, worries that if AHS’s proposal ends up being forced on the workers, it’ll worsen the current healthcare crisis.

We are in a health-care staffing crisis, and this government who sets the mandate for public sector bargaining, is telling health-care professionals in Alberta that they do not respect them and the services they provide for Albertans. Wages below inflation or lumps sums will only make the staffing crisis worse by pushing health-care workers out of the province and making Alberta even more unattractive to new workers.

According to an email sent out to HSAA members, the union is seeking informal mediation as their next step.

This follows similar frustrations recently expressed by nurses in Alberta, who are also in the middle of so-called negotiations with AHS.