Last week, the Alberta Labour Relations Board published their second new applications report of March 2026. In it was an application for union certification.
Well, technically, it was two applications.
The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees filed the first application on 3 March 2026 and the second on 5 March 2026 on behalf of workers employed by Arch Services Ltd.
Arch Services provides staffing services for Christenson Communities, a division of Christenson Group of Companies, which operates the division as an “asset management company” that oversees over 1,500 homes in 10 luxury retirement communities in cities and towns near Edmonton and Red Deer.
In the first case, the 40 or so workers are employed at Christenson’s Village at Westmount, a 13-storey independent living facility with 79 luxury rental units. Three of the storeys at the facility are designated assisted living.
The second application was for around 60 workers employed at the company’s Glastonbury Village facility, which provides over 100 independent and supportive living units, 60 active adult condos, and 77 new units under construction.
In both cases, the applications are for “all employees” at each facility, which could include health care workers, such as health care aides and licensed practical nurses.
ALRB has scheduled hearings regarding both applications for this Thursday (19th), during which time, representatives from the employer(s) can present arguments, if any, as to why these workers should be unable to unionize with AUPE.
Listed in the application as employer representatives are Jordan Majeau, community manager at the Westmount facility; Karlee Oltmann, a human resources business partner with Christienson; and Aubrey Guerzon.
In Alberta, workers must demonstrate support from 40% amongst themselves to unionize before they can file a certification application. In this case, it would be 17 workers for the first facility and 25 for the second.
Should the ALRB approve this application, they would hold a certification vote, and all 102 workers from both facilities would have a chance to democratically choose to unionize with AUPE.
Assuming the 42 workers (at least) who showed initial support all follow through and vote in favour, they would need to convince just 4 more of their fellow workers at the Westmount facility and 6 more at the Glastonbury facility to vote with them to win.
If a majority of the workers vote in favour of unionizing and they end up unionized, one of their first steps will be to form a bargaining committee to begin negotiating their first collective agreement.
AUPE filed a similar application back in December for workers employed at Devonshire Village, another retirement facility owned by Christenson and staffed by Arch Services.
Workers at the Devonshire facility still have not received their union certification.
Because the ALRB does not archive their new application reports, I have included a copy of last week’s report below for your convenience.
