Last week, the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees published an update regarding contract negotiations for education workers in Edmonton.
AUPE represents over 350 education support workers employed by the Edmonton Catholic Separate School Division.
These workers fill a wide variety of positions, including custodians, mechanics, carpenters, electricians, locksmiths, painters, plumbers, vehicle operators, storepersons, and those working in maintenance, cafeterias, and the warehouse.
According to the update, workers recently ratified their tentative agreement.
Their last agreement for these workers expired in August 2024, about 1.5 years ago. That agreement took two years to ratify, following the expiration of the previous agreement.
The recently ratified agreement has several improvements, including wage increases in every year of the 4-year contract.
| 1 September 2024 | 3.00% |
| 1 September 2025 | 3.00% |
| 1 September 2026 | 3.00% |
| 1 September 2027 | 3.00% |
Keep in mind that the 2025 and 2027 raises are a minimum of 3%. They could also be $1.25 an hour, if that is higher than what a 3% increases would be.
This is better than what they got in their last agreement:
| 1 September 2020 | 0.00% |
| 1 September 2021 | 0.00% |
| 1 September 2022 | 0.00% |
| 1 June 2023 | 1.25% |
| 1 February 2024 | 1.50% |
In the collective agreement prior to that, they got two years of wage freezes and a 2% increase, with half coming in January 2019 and the other half in September 2019.
To add it all up, that is 4.75% between 1 September 2016 and 1 September 2024.
Meanwhile, during that same period, the consumer price index in Alberta increased 33.9 points, from 135.3 points to 169.2 points. That is a jump of 25.06%.
Since their combined raise over the last two contracts was only 4.75% but inflation was over 25%, these workers were left with a cut to real wages of 20.31% heading into negotiations.
A 12% increase in their new agreement falls short of helping these workers catch up to the increased cost of living, especially if you consider that it is spread out over 4 years, which means another 4 years of inflation.
Here are some more changes from the ratified agreement.
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation will now be recognized as a named holiday.
Paid family medical leave has increased from 1 day per year to 2 days per year. Unpaid leave remains at 3 days.
Dental benefits under the previous agreement followed the 2009 dental fee guide. They will now follow the most recent fee guide.
Massage therapy coverages has increased from $100 per year to $500 per year.
The flexible spending account increased from $600 per year to $700 per year.
The footwear and clothing benefit increased from $300 every other year to $400 every other year.
Workers compensations top-up has increased from 90% to 100%.
In the case of disciplinary action, the employer will provide 24 hours of notice for any pending investigations, which previously had been just “reasonable advance” notice.
Under the previous agreement, any maintenance work with a value of $20,000 or less would, where possible, be assigned to bargaining unit members. That has increased to $25,000 or less.
Of those participated in the ratification vote, 99.3% approved the tentative agreement.
