Last week, the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees published an update regarding contract negotiations for care home workers in Calgary.
These 100 or so workers are employed by Chartwell Master Care LP, an Ontario-based employer that runs various retirement communities throughout Canada.
They include all the licensed practical nurses and health care aides at the company’s Eau Claire Care Residence in southwest Calgary.
The most recent collective agreement expired in February 2023, over 3.5 years ago. That was their first collective agreement since unionizing in February 2019.
Even though their last agreement expired in February 2023, Chartwell’s bargaining team did not meet with the workers until August 2024, a year and a half later.
During that first round of negotiations, they proposed a wage increase of 4.25% over 3 years.
| 2023 | 1.25% |
| 2024 | 1.50% |
| 2025 | 1.50% |
| 4.25% |
Most licensed practical nurses and health care aides in Alberta have been getting 12% over 4 years in new contracts negotiated over the last year and a half or so.
Chartwell wanted to reduce overtime pay from double time to just time and a half for any work done after 4 hours of overtime.
When the the workers presented 12% over 4 years, Chartwell reps ended the bargaining session, and the two parties immediately started the process to begin mediation.
After just 2 bargaining sessions.
Unfortunately, mediation did not even begin until earlier this year—a year and a half later—and by the time the two parties met with the mediator, Chartwell, had still not improved their wage offer, which was more than 7 percentage points behind what the workers proposed.
Keep in mind that Chartwell’s offer is lower than what they gave workers in their previous collective agreement, which was 4.5% over 3 years. Well, unless you count the wage freeze in the first year.
Between February 2018 and February 2022, the consumer price index in Alberta increased 14.8 points, from 139.7 points to 154.5 points. That is a jump of 10.59%.
Because these workers received 4.5% during a period when inflation increased by 10.59%, they ended up going into negotiations with a real wage cut of 6.09%.
It is laughable that Chartwell is proposing just 4.25%. There is no way that this would make up for lost wages of 6.09%.
Plus, in the 4 years since their last raise in February 2022, inflation has increased an additional 12.88%, which puts these workers at nearly 20% points behind inflation.
Even the 12% the workers proposed would not be enough to cover their lost wages since unionizing.
The two parties met for formal mediation earlier this month. Chartwell had improved their wage offer, but only by adding and additional quarter of a percentage point in the first year. I have already pointed out that they need close to 20% to make up for lost wages.
When the workers’ bargaining team requested Chartwell’s offer in writing, the employer refused. Instead, they demanded that the workers present their best offer.
When they asked Chartwell for more time to respond to the demand, Chartwell refused and asked the mediator to end mediation.
AUPE filed a bad faith bargaining complaint back in May for Chartwell’s insistence on not bargaining reasonably, but seems to not made any meaningful difference.
Even so, they plan to file yet another one.
Remember, this is also the same employer that terminated the employment of one of their licensed practical nurses, who also happened to be the president of her union’s local.
They seem to be more concerned with making money than they are with ensuring their workers can afford to live. The starting wage for health care aides at the end of the last agreement was barely over $20 an hour.
