Glenbow workers get 1.5% raise

Early this month, the Mediation Services department of Alberta Jobs, Economy, and Trade published the November 2024 Bargaining Update.

This monthly report provides information about the unionized workforce, primarily in Alberta. In November, Mediation Services received settlement information regarding 20 private sector and 11 public sector bargaining settlements, covering 2,841 and 4,096 workers respectively.

Among those settlements was a contract for about 20 workers employed by the Glenbow–Alberta Institute.

These workers are represented by Local 1645 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees and work at the Glenbow Museum or to directly for the institute. They include those working in curation, conservation, education, exhibits, collections, and administration.

Their previous contract actually expired this past June. The new contract wasn’t settled until October, and even then, it’s only a 1-year contract. Their last contract lasted 3 years.

The workforce covered by the collective agreement has shrunk from about 80 workers in 2019 to just 20 or so since 2021.

Because the contract is only a year long, these workers will get just one wage increase. And it’s not that impressive. It’s just 1.5%.

That’s less than what they got in their previous contract.

1 July 2021	0.00%
1 July 2022	4.00%
1 July 2023	2.50%

In July 2020, the last time these workers received a wage increase prior to this last contract, the consumer price index for Alberta sat at 144.9.

By the time they got their 2.5% raise in July 2023, the CPI had risen to 166.0. That’s an increase of 21.1, or 14.56%.

Because inflation outstripped wage increases (by more than double) during the last collective agreement, these workers were left with a cut to real wages—wages adjusted for inflation—of 8.06%!

A raise of 1.5% will come nowhere close to making up for an 8% shortfall, especially considering that inflation increased 2.65% between July 2023 and July 2024, and we still have another year of inflation until this contract expires.

By the end of this new contract, these workers will be over 10 percentage points behind inflation.

Oh, and keep in mind that some of these positions still make less than $20 an hour, even after this new raise.

Here are some highlights of other changes between the new contract and their previous contract.

A severance formula has been added to the contract in the event that a worker is laid off. Each full-time and part-time workers who is laid off will be entitled to 2 weeks of pay, plus an additional week for every year they’ve been employed with Glenbow. It maxes out at 26 weeks though. And if they’re at least 50 years old, they’ll get one more week’s worth of pay.

As well, workers under 50 will receive a payment of $2,500 in lieu of outplacement services, and those 50 and over will get $3,500.

Casual workers will get only two weeks worth of pay.

The section of the agreement governing regular hours of work now specifies hours of work for part-time workers: up to 7.5 hours per day but less than 37.5 hours per week.

Under the previous contract, regular, full-time workers were entitled to one earned day off per month. Earned time off for part-time workers was proportionate to their full-time equivalency. Unused earned time off could be carried over to the next month, but they could carry over only 1 day

In the new contract, there is no limit to the carry-over.

Shift breaks under the previous contract were 1 hour unpaid and 1 half hour paid for each 7.5-hour working day. This has been adjusted to include the 1-hour break for everyone working at least 5 hours. As well, anyone working less than 7.5 hours will get a 15-minute paid break for every 3.5 hours they work.

The benefits plan now includes a health care spending account, something that wasn’t listed in the previous contract. No details were provided regarding what it covers or what the limit is.

The long-term disability benefit now has a maximum payout of $5,000 per month. Also the elimination period has been increased from 105 days to 182 days.

Workers must have completed 90 days of continuous service with Glenbow to qualify for maternity or parental leave, something that wasn’t in the previous contract.

Maternity leave had to begin up to 12 weeks prior to the estimated delivery date, but that has been extended to 13 weeks.

The employer may now request a doctor’s note confirming the pregnancy and the estimated delivery date.

Pregnancy loss has been added to parental leave, and workers can still take maternity leave if the pregnancy ends with 16 weeks of the estimated delivery date. As well, for workers affected by pregnancy loss but don’t qualify for maternity leave, they can access bereavement leave.

Speaking of which, bereavement leave has been increased from 4 days to 5 days. Bereavement now includes children-in-law, foster children (and spouses), foster parents (including former), half and step siblings, and unrelated people who they have a close friendship with.