Last week, the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees published an update on their website regarding contract negotiations for workers employed by the Good Samaritan Society.
Good Samaritan Society, together with Good Samaritan Canada, provides care homes and programmes that serve over 7,000 individuals across Alberta and British Columbia.
AUPE represents over 1,400 workers at 18 Good Samaritan facilities in Cardston, Edmonton, Evansburg, Hinton, Lethbridge, Magrath, Raymond, Rocky Mountain House, Spruce Grove, Stony Plain, Taber, and Wetaskiwin.
They include licensed practical nurses, certified graduate nurses, health care aides, clerks, cooks and other kitchen workers, housekeepers, maintenance workers, laundry workers, recreation drivers, supportive housing workers, community programming coordinators, therapy aides, and assistants, home support workers, and associate care coordinators.
Their most recent collective agreement expired over 2 years ago, in June 2024. Bargaining on monetary issues, such as wages, did not begin until this past March.
I am not surprised that more than 2 years have gone by since their last collective agreement expired. That agreement took 6 years to negotiate, and even then, it was a mediated contract, which expired the following year.
The bargaining team have proposed a 12% wage increase over 4 years, which is similar to what other public sector contract have received over the last year and a half or so. It actually works out to 12.55% if you account for compounding increases.
| 2024 | 3.00% |
| 2025 | 3.00% |
| 2026 | 3.00% |
| 2027 | 3.00% |
That 2024 increase is interesting. The mediator gave them a 0.5% increase in January 2024. This might be for October 2024: October is typically when they get their wage increases.
Now, 12% might seem like a lot, but check out what they got in their last collective agreement.
| 2017 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 0.00% |
| 2021 | 1.25% |
| 2022 | 1.25% |
| 2023 | 1.25% |
| 2024 | 0.50% |
| Total | 4.25% |
Yes, that is all one collective agreement. Remember, it took 6 years to get that agreement.
So, the mediator gave them 4 years of wage freezes, followed by 4.25% over the next 4 years.
In July 2016—their last raise before their most recent collective agreement—Alberta’s consumer price index sat at 135.6. In July 2024, CPI had jumped 34.8 points to 170.4, a 25.66% increase
That means that things cost 25.66% more in Alberta at the end of their last contract than they did 7 years previously.
With inflation rising by 25.66% but wages ticking up by just 4.25% during the same period, these workers were left with a cut to real wages of 21.41%.
The 12% (12.55%) these workers are asking for are barely more than half of what they need to make up for lost wages, especially when we consider that 12% is spread out over 4 years, which means 4 more years of inflation.
For example, during the first half of this proposed contract—July 2024 to July 2026—inflation had already passed 5.5%.
When we add up the inflation and proposed wage increases, we are left with real wages sitting at 20.84 percentage points behind inflation. And that is only halfway through the proposed contract.
The bargaining team is hoping to offset some more of that with their living wage proposal, which would ensure everyone is making at least $22.65 by 2027. At the end of the last collective agreement, the starting wage of several positions was still under $20 an hour.
They have also asked for market adjustments for most of the positions; although did not specify what the adjustments would look like. AUPE has been asking for 10% for licensed practical nurses and 4% for health care aides in negotiations with other employers.
The employer had not exchanged monetary proposals yet, but hopefully they will come prepared with a response at the next bargaining meetings, which are scheduled for next month.
