While browsing through the provincial database of collective agreements, I came across a new collective agreement that was ratified in June.
This agreement was for over 20 workers employed by the Foothills Alcohol Action Society and represented by Local 408 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
They include client care supervisors and assistants, admissions coordinators, executive chefs, cooks, prep cooks, programme managers and assistants, and those working in admissions support, client support, recovery support, and housekeeping.
The non-profit runs The Foothills Centre, a medically supported adult detox facility located in Fort Macleod.
Workers at The Foothills Centre unionized last year, and the Alberta Labour Relations Board certified them as a bargaining unit last August. As such, this is their first collective agreement as a unionized workplace.
It is only a year-long contract, being ratified this past June and expiring next June. As such, there is only one wage increase promised in the collective agreement.
At the beginning of last month, all workers were supposed to get a 2.5% wage increase. However, full-time workers would get a 60¢ raise instead if it was more than what a 2.5% increase would be.
As of the wage increase, no one is making under $20 an hour. The only position making over $30 an hour is the programme manager.
Here are some notable benefits in this first agreement.
Lunch break for workers on an 8-hour shift is 30 minutes and paid.
Workers are guaranteed 16 hours of rest between shifts, otherwise they get paid overtime within that 16-hour window.
Overtime is paid out at time and a half.
Workers who are called back to work after their shift ends will be entitled to at least 4 hours of pay.
Banked overtime can be taken as time off in lieu of pay, but it will be time off equivalent to the banked overtime. For example, if the worker put in an hour of overtime, they would normally be paid for 1.5 hours. If they bank it, it would count as 1.5 hours of banked time.
Workers will get 12 general holidays, which are used to determine stat holiday pay.
- New Year’s Day
- Family Day
- Good Friday
- Victoria Day
- Canada Day
- Civic Holiday
- Labour Day
- National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
- Thanksgiving Day
- Remembrance Day
- Christmas Day
- Boxing Day
Workers in front line client care and the kitchen will be apid time and a half for work done on general holidays, except for Christmas, which will be double time.
Vacation entitlement for full-time workers depends on length of employment with the employer:
| Length of service | Vacation entitlement |
|---|---|
| Up to 1 year | 1 day per month worked |
| 1–5 years | 3 weeks |
| 5–10 years | 4 weeks |
| 10–15 years | 5 weeks |
| 15+ years | 6 weeks |
Full-time workers accumulate sick leave at a rate of 1.5 days per month. They can accrue them up to 400 hours. Part-time workers get 2 hours for each 64 hours worked, and can accrue up to 32 hours.
Once workers accumulate 18 sick days, they take sick leave as personal leave but only to a maximum of 5 days per leave and as long as they maintain at least 18 sick days. Same goes for time off to care for a sick family member.
Bereavement leave is 5 paid days in the event of the death of a spouse, child (including step), parent (including step and in-law), sibling, grandparent, and grandchild. They get 1 paid day of leave for the death of a pibling, nibling, cousin, or sibling-in-law.
Parental and adoption leave is up to 62 weeks, but it is unpaid.
Workers who have been employed for at least 90 days are entitled to unpaid compassionate care leave to care for a seriously ill family member. The maximum for this leave is 27 weeks.
They can also get 52 weeks of unpaid leave in the event of the death or disappearance of their child and 36 week to care for a child with a critical illness.
Domestic violence leave is up to 10 days and unpaid.
Workers will receive an additional $2 per hour when they work the night shift or the evening shift.
Foothills Alcohol Action Society will pay 100$ of the cost for life insurance and health care benefits for full-time workers and 50% for part-time workers.
They also pay 1.5% of the worker’s gross salary into a pension plan. Workers have to pay 3% of their gross salary.
Each workers gets a $500 health spending account each year. It cannot be carried over into the next year.
The employer will pay 100% of the costs for full-time workers get (re)certify in CPR and first aid but 75% of the cost for part-time workers and 50% of the cost for casual workers.
Workers who train new hires will get an additional $4 per hour; however, the training allowance will be split among all the workers providing the training. If 2 workers train 1 new hire, they get $2 each; if 4 workers train 1 new hire, they get $1 each; and so on.
The collective agreement came into effect on 14 July 2026.
