Earlier this month, the Mediation Services department of Alberta Jobs, Economy, Trade, and Immigration published their January 2026 Bargaining Update.
The monthly report provides information about Alberta’s unionized workforce, primarily collective agreement settlement information the department received in January 2026.
In January, Mediation Services received settlement information regarding 36 bargaining relationships encompassing 4,369 employees. Of those relationships, 20 were in the private sector and 16 were in the public sector, covering 2,229 and 2,140 employees respectively.
One of those collective agreements was for about 7 workers employed by Battle River School Division.
Based out of Camrose, the Battle River School Division oversees the operation of 20 schools in the communities of Bashaw, Bawlf, Daysland, Forestburg, Hay Lakes, Killam, New Norway, Round Hill, Ryley, Sedgewick, Tofield, Viking, and, of course, Camrose.
This particular collective agreement covers all custodians employed by the school division. They are members of Local 1075 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
Their previous collective agreement expired in August 2020. This new agreement was ratified 5 year later, in August 2025.
The new agreement includes 4 wage increases, but at the expense of 4 wage freezes:
| 1 September 2020 | 0.00% |
| 1 September 2021 | 0.00% |
| 1 September 2022 | 0.00% |
| 1 September 2023 | 0.00% |
| 1 September 2024 | 5.75% |
| 1 September 2025 | *3.00% |
| 1 September 2026 | 3.00% |
| 1 September 2027 | *3.00% |
This is a combined increase of at least 14.75% over the course of the agreement, which expires in August 2028, or an average of 1.84% per year.
This is higher than their last collective agreement, which gave them a 2% increase over 4 years, for an annual average of just half of a percent. Except, half of that increase was a lump sum payment, so it was a temporary bump did not increase their base salary.
Keep in mind that the consumer price index in Alberta over the last decade increased 37.8 points, from 134.6 in September 2015 to 172.4 in September 2025. That is a jump of 28.08%.
Because they have received 6 wage freezes during that time, the 6.75% increase they have received during that same period resulted in a cut to real wages of 21.30%.
Even if we add in the (minimum) 3% increases for last year, this year, and next year, we are still left with a real wage cut of 12.30%. Granted, that is not counting inflation between September 2025 and September 2027, so the real wage cut will be even higher.
It is cool and all that they got 14.75% (at least) in their new collective agreement, but it falls way short of making up for lost wages and keeps them far behind the cost of living.
Here are some more changes between the previous collective agreement and the new one.
Performance evaluations were annual in the previous collective agreement. In the new one, they are held during the worker’s probationary period, in their third year of employment, and then in each subsequent third year.
In the previous collective agreement, the school division had the option of paying workers a week’s salary if they terminated their employment, instead of giving them notice. The new collective agreement provides an exemption for workers who are “terminated for just cause”.
The following clause was removed from the collective agreement:
9.2 When a regular employee is to be disciplined or discharged by the employer, the regular employee shall be advised that they have the right to have union representation.
The following clause was added to the collective agreement:
An employee shall be considered to have terminated services if the employee:
- does not return from layoff when recalled, except where such is for reasons acceptable to the employer; or
- has been on layoff in excess of half the employee’s length of service to a maximum of 24 months.
This clause was also added to the agreement:
10.4 Minimum staffing levels
Subject to employee availability, the employer agrees to maintain a minimum daily staffing level equivalent to 4 full-time positions, or 36 hours per day.
