Last month, the Mediation Services department of Alberta Jobs, Economy, and Trade published the June 2024 Bargaining Update.
This monthly report provides information about the unionized workforce, primarily in Alberta. Last month, Mediation Services received settlement information regarding 30 private sector and 11 public sector bargaining settlements, covering 2,728 and 1,181 workers respectively.
One of those settlements was between Westmoreland Mining Holdings LLC and Local 955 of the International Union of Operating Engineers.
Their previous contract expired this past February. Both Westmoreland and the workers approved this new contract that same month, but Mediation Services only recently received the contract.
Based out of Delaware, Westmoreland also has locations in Canada, the Coal Valley Mine, a surface mine south of Edson, where nearly 370 workers extract and process up to 3 million tons of thermal coal every year.
Here’s a look at the wage increases for the new 4-year contract.
| 1 March 2024 | 4.5% |
| 1 March 2025 | 3.0% |
| 1 March 2026 | 3.0% |
| 1 March 2027 | 2.5% |
That’s a combined 13%, or an annual average of 3.25%.
Their previous contract gave them 6.5% over 2 years, or 3.258% per year, so this raise is about the same as before.
Here are some of the notable changes between the previous contract and the new contract.
Bereavement will now include time off to attend the funeral of a fiancé, common-law spouse, grandparent, grandchild, uncle, aunt, nibling, and any family member living with the worker, all of which were absent from the previous contract.
Workers were entitled to 6 weeks vacation once they had been with the company for over 30 years, but that has changed to just 25 years in the new contract.
Life insurance coverage will increase from $50,000 in the old contract to $75,000 in the new one.
The clothing and boot allowance will increase from $150 per calendar year to $250 per year in the new contract.
There will also be an increase to the tool allowance. For electricians, hevy duty mechanics, millwrights, instrument mechanics, motor mechanics, and machinists, their tool allowance will increase from 30¢ an hour for each hour worked to $1 an hour. Welders, carpenters, plumbers, and servicemen will see theirs increase from 15¢ an hour to 50¢ an hour. These increases apply to apprentices as well.
As well, there were some language changes in the new contract to make the contract more gender inclusive.
2 replies on “Coal miners get 13% raise”
Those raises are cumulative.
Each annual raise is on top of the previous year’s raise.
In today’s dollars, the dollar amount after the last raise will be highr than 13%.
Now, workers hope the dollars paid are not devalued by their government.
Yes, but it’s only 13.6%, hardly a difference.
Also, the owning class drives inflation, not the government.