Last month, the Collective Bargaining Information Services department of Alberta Jobs, Economy, Trade, and Immigration published their October 2025 Bargaining Update.
In October, CBIS received information on contract settlements regarding 89 bargaining relationships, which affected over 50,000 workers.
Of those nearly 90 relationships, 19 were in the private sector and 70 were in the public sector.
Among them was a collective agreements for workers represented by Local 855 of Unifor and employed by Enersul.
Based in Calgary, Enersul specializes in sulphur forming, handling, storing, and transportation.
The workers covered by this collective agreement are employed in Enersul’s Calgary shop and include all full-time hourly rated workers in production or process operations. It excludes supervisors, office personnel, technicians, salespersons, construction and Calgary Shop maintenance employees, and anyone above the rank of supervisor.
Enersul employs between 45 and 50 workers that fall within this bargaining unit.
Their last collective agreement expired on 31 August 2024. The new one was ratified nearly 3 weeks later, on 18 September 2024. Mediation Services received this agreement only recently, depsite it being ratified over a year ago.
These workers are set to receive wage increases in every year of their new 3-year contract.
| 1 September 2024 | 3.50% |
| 1 September 2025 | 3.50% |
| 1 September 2026 | 3.50% |
That is a combined 10.5% (at least) over the life of the contract, for an average of 3.5% per year.
It is less than what they got in their last contract
| 1 September 2021 | 3.00% |
| 1 September 2022 | 3.25% |
| 1 September 2023 | 3.50% |
This works out to be a combined 6.75%, or an annual average of 2.5%. Keep in mind that Alberta experienced skyrocketing inflation during the last contract, rising past the 10% mark between just September 2021 and September 2023.
By the time the collective agreement expires in August 2027, the hourly wage range for these workers will increase from between $35.13 and $48.60 to between $38.95 and $53.88.
Here are some other changes to the new collective agreement.
The purpose of the collective agreement has changed from this:
The purpose of this Agreement is to promote harmonious relations between the Company and its employees, to establish certain rules governing relations between them, and to facilitate the solution of such problems within the provisions of this Agreement as may arise from time to time. It is the further intent of this Agreement to promote the efficient and economical operation of the Company.
to this:
The general purpose of this Agreement is, in the mutual interest of the Company, the Union, and the Employee, to provide for the operation of the Plant hereinafter mentioned under methods which will further, to the fullest extent possible, the safety, welfare, health, dignity, rights and human rights of the employees, economy of operation, quality and quantity of output, cleanliness of Plant and protection of property. It is recognized by this Agreement to be the duty of the Company and the Union and all the Employees to cooperate fully, individually and collectively, for the advancement of said conditions. It is recognized by this Agreement to be the duty of the Company to explain fully the terms of the Agreement to all its supervisors and others engaged in a supervisory capacity and it is recognized to be the duty of the Union to fully explain to its members, and their responsibilities and obligations under this Agreement.
The following sections are new to the collective agreement:
4:06 All employees shall as a condition of their employment be required to sign an authorization requiring the company to deduct union dues and assessments – uniformly levied against union members in amounts as notified by UNIFOR Local 855 as per ‘Schedule B”
4:07 Upon receipt of a written authorization from an employee, the company shall deduct monthly, union initiation fees, dues and uniform assessments as determined by the local union from wages due the employee. Such deductions shall be remitted to the Financial Secretary of the union by the 15th day of the following month. A list of those employees for whom such deductions have been made will be forwarded to the Financial Secretary of the union by the 10th day of the following month.
4:08 All employees who are members of the Union at the signing date of this Agreement, or who become members of the Union after the signing of this Agreement, or who are reinstated, shall, as a condition of employment, retain their membership in good standing.
4:09 During working hours the steward will be allowed a reasonable time when occasion demands, from his regular job, without loss of pay, to attend to problems concerning the interpretation and application of the working agreement in the Plant. Before leaving his job, however, the steward must obtain permission from the Plant Superintendent or delegated authority. The steward will also report to his Plant Superintendent or delegated authority when he returns to his regular duties.
In step 2 of the grievance procedure, workers now have 10 days to appeal their grievance to the operations manager. It was 5 days under the previous collective agreement.
The previous agreement gave the employer 20 days to settle any appeals. That time limit has been removed in the new agreement.
In the hours of work section of the agreement, the following standard shift schedules appeared:
| Plants | Hours per day | Rotation |
|---|---|---|
| 30, 34, 35 | 12 | 7 days |
| 37, 38 | 12 | 21 days |
They were not present in the previous version of the agreement.
Enersul has 4 days or 96 hours to notify workers of upcoming shift changes. The previous agreement required only 3 days or 72 hours of notice.
This section is new to the agreement:
Where possible employees will be provided with continuous employment, including non-traditional work, during host, or site turnarounds. During periods where this is not possible, employees beyond the scope of this agreement will not perform any in scope duties while members are not on active duty.
Vacation entitlement has been improved, depending on length of employment.
| Entitlement 8-hour shifts | Entitlement 12-hour shifts | Old | New |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80 hours | 84 hours | 1 year | 1 year |
| 120 hours | 120 hours | 2 years | 2 years |
| 160 hours | 168 hours | 10 years | 7 years |
| 200 hours | 204 hours | 20 years | 17 years |
As well, workers now get an extra 40 hours (one time) during their 25th year of employment.
Call out pay will now be 4 hours at their regular pay rate or double the regular pay rate for actual hours worked, whichever is greater. Previously, it was just 4 hours at the regular pay rate.
The coffee break is now specified as 15 minutes and the lunch break at 20 minutes. They were both unspecified in the previous agreement.
The following were added to the agreement:
19:04 The Company will ensure that all relevant MSD Sheets are maintained and available to employees and Safety Committee representatives at all sites.
19:05 If a recommendation of the Safety Committee is not addressed by the Company in a reasonable period of time, the union appointees may refer the matter to the Manager, Operations located at the Company headquarters in Calgary. The Manager, Operations will immediately consider the matter and give a reply to the union.
19:06 Safety items identified by the Safety Committee representatives shall be addressed within 30 days.
The collective agreement says that Enersul will provide $450 every 2 years toward the purchase of prescription safety glasses. As well, the benefits plan includes $400 every 2 years for prescription eyewear for workers and their covered dependents. Neither of these appeared in the last version of the collective agreement.
The shift differential has increased from $1.55 an hour to $1.75 an hour for those working the night shift. This will be the only change on shift differential this contract. The last contract increased the shift differential every year.
The premium for 4th class power engineers responsible for the boiler operation has increased from $1.75 an hour to $2.00 an hour.
