Calgary school support workers to get 7.75% raise

Earlier this month, the Alberta division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees published an update on their website regarding negotiations for education support workers in Calgary.

As members of CUPE Local 40, these workers have been without a new contract since their old one expired 3.5 years ago, in August 2020.

The workers include custodians, equipment operators, gardeners, truck drivers, shippers/receivers, maintenance technicians, locksmiths, mechanics, and welders, all employed by the Calgary Board of Education.

The new contract, which will expire this summer, includes 3 years of wage freezes, which brings to total 8 consecutive wage freezes for these workers.

In the final year of the contract—the 2023/2024 school year—these workers are set to receive a 5% increase, retroactive to the start of the school year, as well as an additional 2.75% increase after ratification. That’s a 7.75% combined increase for the final half of the final year of the contract.

In August 2015, the last time these workers had a raise, the consumer price index in Alberta sat at 135.0, which had increased to 166.8 this past August. That’s a jump of 31.8, or 23.56%.

During that same period, these workers received no wage increases. This new increase, even if we include the combined 7.75% increase, won’t be anywhere close enough to help these workers catch up to the increase in the cost of living.

This means that these workers will end up with a drop in real wages, which is wages adjusted for inflation.

If the workers get a 7.75% increase but inflation rises by 23.56%, the workers will end up with a 15.81% reduction in their real wages.

In other words, what used to cost them $100 in August 2015 will now cost these workers $115.81, even after their wage increase. To put it another way, the $100 they spent on goods and services in August 2015 will not only be able to purchase $84.19 worth of the same goods and services.

And that’s not including the increase in inflation between August 2023 and August 2024.

Certainly a 7.75% wage increase is better than a ninth year of wage freezes, the Calgary Board of Education is making it harder for these workers to be able to take care of themselves and their families.

As bad as a 15.81% reduction in real wages is, it could’ve been even worse: the Calgary Board of Education had come into negotiations with an initial offer of just 2.75%.