City of Calgary outside workers reject 9% raise

Last month, workers employed with the City of Calgary were presented with a tentative agreement.

These 2,600 or so workers are considered outdoor workers and are employed in such departments as waste and recycling services, water services, wastewater treatment, facility management, fleet and inventory, parks, recreation, and community services.

Their most recent contract expired at the end of 2023, and its duration was less than a year and a half, compared to 3 years for the previous contract.

According to Local 37 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents these workers, the tentative 3-year agreement included a 3% raise in each year of the contract, for a total of 9%.

In addition, the employer had proposed increasing the boot allowance from $75 to $250 a year for permanent workers and from $25 to $100 per year for seasonal workers. The boot allowance also would no longer be taxable.

Workers employed in aquatics would now be eligible for a swimsuit allowance, and there would also be an increase to shift premiums (for workers scheduled on weekends or evenings).

The union held a ratification meeting for the tentative agreement on 23 May, and a majority of the workers who participated chose to vote against the agreement.

A 9% wage increase seems pretty decent, so what gives?

Well, let’s take a look at the increases in the previous contracts.

Their last contract had 3 wage increases:

4 January 2021	1.5%
20 December 2021	1.5%
19 December 2022	2.0%

The previous contract, however, came with two years of wage freezes and a 1.5% increase in the final year, effective 23 December 2019.

So, between December 2016 and December 2022, wages increased 6.5% for these workers, or 6.66% if you account for compounding increases. That’s a little more than 1% per year, on average.

On the other hand, the consumer price index in Alberta sat at 134.9 in December 2016, but 6 years later, in December 2022, it had jumped to 160.8. That’s an increase of 25.9 points or 19.19%.

That means that while the workers received a 6.66% increase since December 2016, a 19.19% inflation ended up giving these workers a cut to their real wages—wages adjusted for inflation—of 12.53%.

And remember, that’s just to the end of 2022. Inflation between December 2022 and December 2023 increased a further 2.99%, bring their real wage cut to 15.52%.

The income for these workers was worth 15.52% less in December 2023 than it was in December 2016, and that’s accounting for the four wage increases they received.

For every $1000 they spent in December 2016, it would now cost them $1155.20 to buy the same goods. Either that or they could only purchase $844.80 worth of the same goods and services in December 2023 that they could get with $1000 in December 2016.

Even if they had accepted the 9% wage increase proposed by the City of Calgary, they would’ve still been 6.52% below December 2016 wages, when adjusted for inflation.

Of course, that’s not even counting inflation for this year, next year, or the final year of the contract.

Employers try this tactic all the time: convince workers to take wage freezes when times are tough then give them what looks like decent increases years later but still fall short of allowing these workers to afford increases to the cost of living.

That’s not all.

CUPE also published an update at the end of May for over 600 City of Calgary library workers, whose bargaining team walked out of negotiations after the employer offered them a 7% increase, two points lower than what they offered the outdoor workers.

These workers received similar increases in their most recent contract, but they had no increases in the previous contract. They’re even worse off, in terms of real wages, than the outdoor workers.

The City of Calgary also offered a 9% increase to their 4,000 or so “inside” workers, represented by CUPE Local 38. The workers rejected 3 offers from the employer, including the most recent offer.

In fact, the union held a strike vote in the middle of May, and 89% of those participating authorized a strike. That doesn’t automatically mean the workers will strike, but it does give the bargaining team some leverage to negotiate for a better contract, if the employer sees that the workers are willing to take work action over this, especially if that strike overlaps with The Calgary Stampede.

The City of Calgary should be coming forward with reasonable wage offers and ensure these workers can support themselves and their families.