Last month, the Mediation Services department of Alberta Jobs, Economy, and Trade published the April 2025 Bargaining Update.
This monthly report provides information about the unionized workforce, primarily in Alberta. In April, Mediation Services received settlement information regarding 20 private sector and 19 public sector bargaining settlements, covering 990 and 43,727 workers respectively.
Among those settlements was a contract for about 10 workers employed by Lafarge Asphalt Technologies.
Lafarge is a national construction company specializing in concrete, cement, aggregates, and asphalt products and services. They have several locations throughout the country, including several in Alberta. They have 9 locations in Edmonton alone, but this collective agreement covers those workers employed with the asphalt division in Edmonton.
The workers are represented by Local 955 of the International Union of Operating Engineers. They include journeypersons, truck drivers, terminal operators, lead hands, and general labourers.
Their previous contract expired just this past February. Their new contract was ratified the month before. It’s refreshing to see a collective agreement ratified before the previous one expires, something that seems rare in Alberta.
This contract runs from the March 2025 until the end of April 2028, so it’s basically for 3 years, the same length as the previous contract.
This new collective agreement includes wage increases in every one of those 3 years.
| 1 March 2025 | 3.00% |
| 1 March 2026 | 2.70% |
| 1 March 2027 | 2.70% |
That’s a combined increase of 8.4% over the length of the contract. This works out to an average of 2.8% per year.
This is better than what these workers got in their last contract.
| 1 March 2022 | 3.5% |
| 1 March 2023 | 2% |
| 1 March 2024 | 2% |
Although, in the last two years of the previous contracted, they were somewhat protected from inflation, in that their actual raise was to be increased in those years if inflation in Edmonton rose above 2%. That being said, it was maxed at only one extra percentage point, so the 2023 and 2024 raises would go no higher than 3%, even if inflation ended up being 5%.
There is no inflation protection in the new contract.
By the end of the new contract, none of the workers will be making less than $30 an hour for their base pay.
Here are some highlights of other things that have changed in this new contract.
General holiday pay has decreased from 5% to 4%.
The following sentence has been removed from the clause on bereavement leave:
If the employee attends the funeral, the employee shall be compensated for hours lost from their regular schedule on the day prior to the funeral, the day of the funeral and the day after the funeral.
When workers have their employment terminated, they have 5 days to file a grievance. It was 72 hours in the previous contract.
Workers who show up for their scheduled shift only to find out there’s no work will be paid 3 hours pay, up from 2 hours in their previous contract. Same goes for if they start work but are sent home early: they’ll get at least 3 hours of pay, up from 2 hours.
Lafarge has to notify the workers at least 3 hours before the scheduled start of shift to avoid paying the show-up premium; it was 2 hours in the previous contract.
Call-out pay has also increased from 2 hours to 3 hours for workers called into work after they complete their regular shift.
The employer will contribute $2.10 for each our worked into the union’s health and wellness trust fund, as of 1 March 2025, up from $2.05 at the end of the previous contract. This will increase to $2.15 next March, and the union and employer will meet sometime before March 2027 to determine that the contribution amount will be for the final year.
Pension contribution from the employer will increase this year to $4.50 an hour, up from $4.25 at the end of the previous contract. It will increase to $4.75 an hour next March and $5.00 an hour in March 2027.
The following has been added to the pension article:
The Company will continue to remit pension contributions for an employee only until December 31st of the year in which the employee turns 71 years of age.
Effective January 1st of the year following the date the employee attains 71 years of age, all pension contributions will be paid to the Employee as a lump sum on the 2nd pay period of each year for the year prior, subject to the applicable statutory deductions. The amount shall not be deemed to be wages and is therefore not to be used for vacation pay calculations or any other compensation which would normally be calculated on wages.
The new collective agreement has a clause about a new international training fund, which the employer has agreed to pay 5¢ an hour into.
