Last month, the Mediation Services department of Alberta Jobs, Economy, and Trade published the December 2024 Bargaining Update.
This monthly report provides information about the unionized workforce, primarily in Alberta. In December, Mediation Services received settlement information regarding 24 private sector and 10 public sector bargaining settlements, covering 2,429 and 3,797 workers respectively.
Among those settlements was a contract for about 16 workers employed by Chemtrade.
Based out of Toronto, Chemtrade employs workers around the world who produce sulphur and water chemical and electrochemical products for use in various industries, including water treatment, agriculture, pulp and paper, oil refining, and food production.
The workers in this collective agreement are based out of the company’s sulphide production location in Fort Saskatchewan, and they’re represented by Local 530A of Unifor.
They include all production and maintenance workers at the location. Customer service workers employed by Chemtrade in Sherwood Park, who are also represented by the same union, ratified their latest contract last year.
The previous contract for these workers expired in March 2024. The new contract was settled in November 2024, 8 months later.
The new collective agreement is for 3 years, expiring in March 2027. This is longer than their last agreement, which was for just 2 years.
The workers are set to receive wage increases in every year of their new contract.
| 1 April 2024 | 3.00% |
| 1 April 2025 | 3.00% |
| 1 April 2026 | 2.75% |
This combined increase of 8.75% over the life of the collective agreement is less than the 9.5% their customer service counterparts received in a contract they ratified last year.
Their last contract gave them two years of 3% raises each.
Here are some highlights of other changes to this new collective agreement.
Workplace representation has increased from 1 chief steward in the previous contract to 3 site representatives in the new contract.
The following statement was added to the collective agreement:
If assignment to new crew is to last longer than 30 days, the company will seek to give the employee at least 20 days notice of the change.
Under the previous contract, workers were eligible for a meal allowance if they performed continuous work for more than 2 hours. This still exists in the new contract, but now it will also be available to workers who receive a call out with less than 2 hours notice.
The following clauses were removed from the section on banked overtime:
This program is only available for “non-shift workers”.
Only overtime hours worked in excess of two (2) per day will be eligible to be banked.
The maximum limit for banked overtime has increased from 40 hours in a calendar year to 48 hours.
Under the old contract, workers had to wait until they had been with the company for 10 years before their entitled vacation time increased. Now they get the increase when they hit the 8-year mark.
There were changes in shift premiums
| Old | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon | $1.79 | $1.85 | $1.91 | $1.96 |
| Evening | $1.91 | $1.97 | $2.03 | $2.09 |
| 12-hour continuous | $2.15 | $2.21 | $2.28 | $2.34 |
| 12-hour day | $1.35 | $1.39 | $1.43 | $1.47 |
The premiums for workers with class and journey certification also increased.
| Old | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4th class certificate | $1.80 | $1.85 | $1.91 | $1.96 |
| Journey trade ticket | $3.87 | $3.99 | $4.11 | $4.22 |
As well, journey apprentices will get premiums, something that wasn’t listed in the previous contract.
| 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4th-year apprentice | $359 | $3.70 | $3.80 |
| 3rd-year apprentice | $3.19 | $3.29 | $2.95 |
| 2nd-year apprentice | $2.79 | $2.88 | $2.53 |
| 1st-year apprentice | $2.39 | $2.47 | $2.34 |
