The Alberta Labour Relations Board publishes a list of all the certificates they’ve issued for unionized workplaces in the province.
They update it every month, with the latest update being 1 May 2026.
I thought I would report on 9 certificates that the ALRB issued in April 2026.
Arch Services Ltd.
The first certificate issued by the ALRB last month was for actually two certificates for the same employer but different locations.
The employer is Arch Services Ltd., a division of Christenson Group of Companies, which operates the division as an “asset management company” that oversees over 1,500 homes in 10 luxury retirement communities in cities and towns near Edmonton and Red Deer.
One of the certificates covered all workers employed by Arch Services at their Glastonbury Village location. The other was for those working in their Village at Westmount location.
The ALRB approved both certifications on 7 March 2026.
The 100 or so workers at both locations will be represented by the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees.
The union submitted their certification application for these two locations back in March.
One a related note, AUPE filed for certification back in December for workers employed at Devonshire Village, another retirement facility owned by Christenson and staffed by Arch Services. Workers at that facility received their union certification in March.
As well, AUPE filed a certification application last month for around 85 workers at the company’s Timberstone Mews location, a continuing care facility located in east Red Deer.
Amrize Canada Inc.
Back in March, Local 362 of the Teamsters filed for union certifcation on behalf of workers employed by Amrize Canada Inc.
A decade ago, the two construction firms Holcim and Lafarge merged into LafargeHolcim, which was renamed Holcim Limited in 2021. In 2024, the Switzerland-based company announced they were spinning off all their North American assets into a separate company called Amrize.
The Teamsters already represented Amrize workers throughout the province, including in Airdrie, Calgary, Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Fort Saskatchewan, Grande Prairie, High River, Nisku, Rocky View County, and Westlock, as well as at the Sturgeon Refinery.
Their application was specifically for quality control technicians working for the company’s ready-mix division in the Edmonton area, which is about 8 workers.
The ALRB approved the application and issued their union certificate on 8 April 2026.
Local 362 had filed another application last month but for quality control technicians working for the company’s ready-mix division in the Calgary area. This application was approved and the bargaining unit certified on the 24th.
Northern Lights School Division
The ALRB issued their next union certification on the 9th.
This certification went to custodians employed by the Northern Lights School Division.
These 18 custodians had been unionized with Local 1098 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, but will now be certified with Local 2559 of the same union. This seems to be just a switching of locals; although the last collective agreement under Local 1098 expired in 2021.
As of last July, Local 2559 has also represented over 400 education support workers with the same school division.
Shepherd’s Care Foundation
Workers employed by Shepherd’s Care Foundation received a union certificate on 17 April 2026.
Based out of Edmonton, Shepherd’s Care Foundation is a faith-based not-for-profit organization providing 6 care facilities for seniors in Barrhead and Edmonton.
This certificate is specifically for those workers employed in general support services and so-called auxiliary nursing care at the organization’s Prince of Peace Manor and Harbour location, which contains 129 independent and assisted rental suites.
The Prince of Peace workers will be unionized with Local 8 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. General support workers were already unionized with Local 8, but now their fellow workers employed in nursing care have joined them.
Caffe Rosso Inc.
On the 22nd, the ALRB issued a certificate to over 30 workers employed by Caffe Rosso Inc.
The Calgary-based company, also known as Rosso Coffee Roasters, owns 5 cafe locations in Calgary.
Local 401 of the United Food and Commercial Workers filed the application on 23 January 2026 on behalf of the workers employed, but the application process had been plagued with unionbusting from the employer.
In February, the union accused Caffe Rosso of holding one-on-one meetings. One-on-one meetings are a common unionbusting tactic used by employers to discourage unionization. They undermine worker solidarity because workers meet individually with the employer, and they do not know what is said in the meetings with their fellow workers.
They also accused the employer of trying to intimidate and threaten workers into not unionizing.
Those threats escalated to cutting hours for one of their workers who was a union supporter last month and then, allegedly, having the gall to write her up for not showing up on time after they—again, allegedly—changed her work schedule without telling her.
The union certificate will cover all those workers employed by Caffe Rosso except those in office or clerical positions.
Universal Rail Solutions Inc.
The ALRB issued a certificate on 27 April 2026 for workers employed by Universal Rail Solutions Inc.
Based out of Edmonton, Universal Rail is the largest provider of track maintenance and construction services in Canada.
These workers will include all those employed by Universal Rail except anyone in office positions. They will be represented by Local 92 of the Construction and General Workers’ Union, also known as the Laborers’ International Union of North America, or just LIUNA.
I was not able to find information on where these workers are located nor how many there are.
Prairie Lake Seniors Community Partnership
The final certificate issued by ALRB last month came on the 28th.
It was for workers employed by Prairie Lake Seniors Community Partnership.
The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees filed their application for certification back in March. In it, they claimed that the employer was Park Place Seniors Living Inc. and that the workplace was the company’s Prairie Lake Seniors Community in Grande Prairie.
The 107-unit long-term care facility is owned by the Vancouver-based private company, which has over 30 locations across BC, Alberta, and Ontario.
AUPE already represents workers at 8 facilities owned by Park Place, which typically include such positions as licensed practical nurses, health care aides, kitchen workers, receptionists, recreation aides, maintenance workers, rehabilitation aides, housekeepers, and administrative assistants.
This application simply stated “all employees”.
As with the 8 other Park Place locations, the more than 100 workers at the Prairie Lake facility will be represented by AUPE.
In all of the above cases, the next step for these workers will be to elect a bargaining committee to begin negotiating their first collective agreement;.
