Earlier this month, Alberta Jobs, Economy and Trade published their February 2024 Bargaining Update. In that update were two collective agreements with the Calgary Board of Education.
One of the agreements was with 200 professional support workers— such as counsellors, occupational therapists, and speech language pathologists—and the other was with 4,000 general support workers—including meal supervisors, testing centre coordinators, educational assistants, and records technicians.
Both groups of workers are represented by the Calgary Board of Education Staff Association.
The previous collective agreements for these two groups of workers expired in August 2020, 3.5 years prior to these new agreements being agreed to.
The new collective agreements (here and here) are effective as of September 2020 but expire this summer, in August 2024.
Because the Calgary Board of Education dragged their feet on ensuring these workers have a fair contract that allows them to care for themselves and their families during escalating inflation, the bargaining teams will have barely any time to breathe before having to begin negotiations on the next contract.
The February 2024 Bargaining Update didn’t provide access to the full new contracts. All they included was the wage increases during the 4-year contracts. Both groups of workers received the same increases, which are listed below.
| 1 Sep 2020 | 0.00% |
| 1 Sep 2021 | 0.00% |
| 1 Sep 2022 | 1.25% |
| 1 Sep 2023 | 0.00% |
| 1 Feb 2024 | 1.50% |
That’s a combined 2.75%, or an average of 0.69% per year.
Let’s compare that to the change to the cost of living over the last 4 years.
In September 2019, the consumer price index in Alberta was 142.9, but in September 2023, it has jumped to 166.0. That’s an increase of 23.1 or 16.17%.
So, inflation over the last 4 years was 16.17%, but the Calgary Board of Education somehow thinks that a 2.75% wage increase will help these workers?
Laura Hack, the chair of the Calgary Board of Education claimed that “this agreement acknowledges the hard work, dedication, and contributions of” these workers and that it reflect the board’s “commitment to ensuring that SA members are valued for their integral role in our schools and service units”.
How is a 13.42% reduction in real wages show these workers that the board values them? If they expect these workers to take a 13.42% wage cut (when adjusted for inflation), what does that say about how the board “acknowledges the hard work, dedication, and contributions” of these workers?
And remember, that’s only accounting for inflation up to September 2023. We still have all of this year left, so their reduction in real wages will end up being more than 13.42% by the time the contract expires in August.
Plus, did you see how the last raise came into effect in February 2024 instead of September 2023? So, these workers will end up getting just 6 months of new raises instead of a full year.
The agreement also includes a further 0.5% in 2024 depending on “economic factors”, but obviously that will have a negligible effect on the reduced real wages.
5 replies on “Cgy ed worker wages frozen for 2.5 years”
Thank you for this article. The CBE also values its future front line education assistants in this contract by capping their salaries at step 4 of a 9 step grid. If you are one of the unlucky who will not obtain your certificate before June 2024 you will make significantly less than your colleagues and have no chance of ever catching up.
Thanks for the additional context, Pat!
Did anyone mention that staggering extra 0.5% didn’t happen because of insufficient economic increase?
Our last negotiations and outcome was so poor. I think the sad reality is that many of these workers are part time and are relying on a partner’s income. They’re trying to put their families best interests at the forefront which allows us all to be taken advantage of. The CBE blames the government for not enough funding and the government blames the CBE for not allocating the funding properly. We went for 8 years without a raise and the CBE/government couldn’t forecast funding for it? The only way to get anywhere is to go on strike but we were told not to by our union because it would be “illegal”. Unbelievable.
It’s ridiculous that everyone is treating you and your fellow workers like this.