Local 401 of the United Food and Commercial Workers recently published an update on their website regarding contract negotiations for food service workers in Edmonton.
The 10 or so workers are employed at Aramark Refreshment Services in northwest Edmonton and have been without a new contract since their previous one expired in November 2022.
Aramark Refreshment Services is headquarterd in Pennsylvania but has several locations in Canada, including one in Edmonton, where workers produce coffees, teas, filtered water, vending and healthy snack options and deliver them to local businesses.
In their previous contract, which was settled in October 2017 but was retroactive to November 2016, workers received a 2% increase in every year of the 4-year agreement. In November 2020, workers renewed the contract for another 2 years, with 1.5% increases in both years.
| November 2016 | 2.0% |
| November 2017 | 2.0% |
| November 2018 | 2.0% |
| November 2019 | 2.0% |
| November 2020 | 1.5% |
| November 2021 | 1.5% |
That came to a combined 11% over all 6 years, or 11.51% if you account for cumulative increasing.
In the new contract, workers can expect to receive a 13.5% over the 4 years of the agreement. The update from Local 401 didn’t break down the increase by year, but it averages to 3.375% per year.
Something to keep in mind is that even though 11.51% seemed like a lot for the previous contract and its renewal, it was slightly less than the rate of inflation.
In November 2015, the consumer price index in Alberta was 134.7. By the time November 2021 rolled around 6 years later, it had increased by 16.9 to 151.6. That’s a 12.55% jump.
That means under the last contract, and its renewal, workers actually saw a small reduction in real wages of 1.03%.
Real wages are wages adjusted for inflation. For example, if you had a wage freeze this year, but inflation increased by 3%, then your real wages decreased by 3%. If your wages increased by 3% with the same inflation, then your real wages remained stagnant.
How do real wages stack up in the new contract?
Well, it’s tough to tell because only one year of the contract (which is retroactive to November 2022) has passed by, and it’s hard to predict what inflation will do over the next 3 years.
However, we do know what inflation had done since the last raise in November 2021. As I mentioned earlier, the CPI for Alberta 2 years ago was 151.6. Last month, which was two years after the last raise, CPI was at 165.1, which is an increase of 9.23%.
That’s more than half of the total increase planned for the entire 4-year contract, which leaves only about 4.27% left for the raises in 2024 and 2025 to break even with inflation.
But remember, the workers were short 1.03% in real wages going into the new contract, so really, they have only 3.24% left to split over the next year to match increases to the cost of living, or 1.62% per year
Here’s how inflation has looked in Alberta over the last 8 years:
| November 2016 | 0.22% |
| November 2017 | 2.52% |
| November 2018 | 1.66% |
| November 2019 | 2.06% |
| November 2020 | 1.25% |
| November 2021 | 4.26% |
| November 2022 | 6.60% |
| November 2023 | 2.48% |
There have been only 2 years during this period (2016 and 2020) where inflation have been below 1.62%; although it was pretty close in 2018. The average over the last 8 years has been 2.63%.
Workers at Aramark aren’t just getting pay increases, however.
The bargaining team for these workers, for example, managed to secure a new $300 annual health spending account, which workers can use to pay for health-related expenses. This is in addition to their previously existing extended health benefits. For example, may they could use it to cover co-pays when they visit the dentist.
The workers also negotiated a $50 increase to their prescription eyeglass coverage, along with more coverage for uniform care and a new annual shoe benefit.
Finally, workers will see an improvement to vacation time. Under the previous contract, workers had to wait until they had been with the company for 9 years before qualiying for 4 paid weeks of vacation. Now they just have to work at the company for 5 years.
Here are the changes to vacation time:
| Vacation time | Previous requirement | New requirement |
|---|---|---|
| 4 weeks | 9 years | 5 years |
| 5 weeks | 14 years | 9 years |
| 6 weeks | 25 years | 14 years |
| 7 weeks | N/A | 19 years |
