Last month, Labour Relations Alberta updated their Collective Bargaining Agreement Database to include an agreement that was settled on 2 February 2023.
This agreement was between Varsteel and just under 50 workers they employ at their Calgary location. These workers are affiliated with Local 362 of the Teamsters.
Varsteel sells steel products and has locations throughout the four provinces in Western Canada, as well as locations in the US state of Washington.
Labour Relations Alberta didn’t upload the entire collective agreement; however, they did include the proposed wage increases.
The contract, which runs from February 2024 until the end of 2027, so nearly 4 years, actually contains 8 wage increases, with most of the increase frontloaded into the first half of the contract.
| 01 Feb 2024 | 3.25% |
| 30 Jun 2024 | 1.25% |
| 01 Jan 2025 | 1.25% |
| 30 Jun 2026 | 1.25% |
| 01 Jan 2026 | 1.00% |
| 30 Jun 2026 | 1.00% |
| 01 Jan 2027 | 0.50% |
| 30 Jun 2027 | 0.50% |
That works out to a combined 10%, or 10.42%, if you account for compounding increases. That works out to 2.50–2.61% per year.
Interestingly, just last week, Statistics Canada released consumer price index data for January 2024. In January 2023, CPI for Alberta sat at 160.5. A year later, it was at 165.9, a 3.36%.
While their increase of 4.5% this year will outpace that, unless inflation drops significantly by the end of the contract, these workers might end up seeing a decrease in real wages, which is wages adjusted for inflation.
That being said, the information that Labour Relations Alberta uploaded to their database indicated that workers were set to receive a lump sum payment of $1,000, effective 1 February 2024.
Given that this contract, according to the CBA database, appears to be the first contract that Local 362 had with Varsteel, I reached out to Stacy Tulp, an organizer and business agent with Local 362.
He told me that these workers had previously been with Local 6034 of the United Steelworkers. The workers reached out to the Teamsters in 2022 about switching unions, and during an open period, Tulp and Local 362 worked with them to take on the workers, including applying in the summer of 2022 to be their bargaining agent.
Their efforts were successful, and Local 362 represented these workers during the final year of their USW contract with Varsteel.
Their previous 3-year contract (September 2020 to August 2023) under USW included 3 raises: 1% in the first year (in two 6-month intervals), 1% in the second year, and 2% in the final year. That’s a combined 4%, for an annual average of 1.33%, which is less than the annual average the Teamsters won for Varsteel employees.
The workers in this contract include truck drivers, welders, machine operators, and warehouse employees.
