Earlier this week, the Health Sciences Association of Alberta published an update regarding contract negotiations with Alberta Health Services.
HSAA represents nearly 30,000 paramedical technical, professional, and general support workers across Alberta, the bulk of which are employed by AHS.
The last contract for the AHS workers who are members of HSAA expired in March 2024, nearly a year and a half ago, and it was not ratified until more than 2 years had passed since the previous one expired.
The bargaining team for the workers began negotiating a new contract with AHS that same month. Negotiations on monetary proposals, including wages, did not begin until last October, however.
AHS eventually came to the table with a 7.5% increase over 4 years, which is better than the 4.25% these workers got in their last contract (which was a mediated contract) and certainly much better than the wage rollbacks (averaging -5.35%) AHS originally proposed for the previous contract.
However, the workers’ bargaining team proposed a 20% increase over 4 years.
| Year 1 | 7.50% |
| Year 2 | 4.50% |
| Year 3 | 4.00% |
| Year 4 | 4.00% |
That was to make up for lost real wages from 4 years of wage freezes when the NDP were in power.
Because the two parties were apart by 12.5 points, they went to informal mediation. Their first mediated session was last December, followed by 6 more meetings this past January.
Although no tentative agreement was reached by the end of January, AHS moved slightly to 10% over 4 years.
| Year 1 | 3.00% |
| Year 2 | 3.00% |
| Year 3 | 2.00% |
| Year 4 | 2.00% |
The HSAA bargaining team—which includes 3 social workers, 2 advanced care paramedics, an additions counsellor, a respiratory therapist, and a dental hygienist—called this wage offer “insulting” and “disrespectful”.
When informal mediation did not work, it automatically triggered the formal mediation process. HSAA had proposed several dates to continue negotiations while they waited for formal mediation, but AHS refused to negotiate until formal mediation began.
The two parties began formal mediation at the end of June and concluded last week. While technically, there was no agreement reach by the time formal mediation concluded, the two parties were able to reach a tentative agreement.
According to the update published earlier this week, the tentative agreement will provide these more than 20,000 workers with a 12% increase over 4 years, or 12.55% if you account for compound increases.
| 1 April 2024* | 3.00% |
| 1 April 2025* | 3.00% |
| 1 April 2026 | 3.00% |
| 1 April 2027 | 3.00% |
A 12% increase means that AHS moved just 4.5 points of their original proposal of 7.5%, while the workers are being asked to move 8 points off their original 20% proposal.
Does AHS think that a wage increase where the workers are expected to concede nearly twice as much as the employer is fair?
To provide some context, let us look at the consumer price index for Alberta. In April 2015, it sat at 133.1. By the time 10 years had passed, this past April, it had increased 38 points to 171.1.
That is a 28.55% increase.
During this same period, they got 5 years of wage freezes, a 4.25% increase, and now 6% for the first 2 years of the tentative agreement.
A wage increase of 10.25% while inflation is at 28.55% means these workers end up with a real wage cut of 18.3%, which the remaining two increases of 3% will not be sufficient enough to erase, especially considering there are two more years of inflation still to come.
The bargaining committee is convinced that “this is the most that can be obtained through formal mediation”.
That sucks.
On the bright side, AHS also agreed to provide market adjustments for several positions, which is in addition to the broader annual wage increases.
| Job classification | Market adjustment |
|---|---|
| Emergency communication officers* | 8.44% |
| Primary care paramedics* | 8.44% |
| Neuropsychologists | 6.1% |
| Psychologists | 6.1% |
| Advanced care paramedics* | 4% |
| Public education officers | 4% |
| Clinical educators | 4% |
As well, AHS has agreed to eliminate the 3 lowest steps in the wage grid for cardiovascular perfusionists, so anyone in those 3 steps will bumped into a step with a higher wage. Plus, they are adding 3 higher steps, which means that those who have maxed out their salary in the top step can receive wage increases again.
Both parties signed a letter of understanding to identify compensation gaps, which might lead to additional compensation over the life of the collective agreement.
The workers’ bargaining did not just secure wage increases.
Massage therapy coverage, for example, has increased from a maximum of $50 per visit to $75 per visit. Dental scaling coverage has increased from 50% to 80%. As well, glucose monitors will now be covered, and workers will no longer need a doctor’s note to have diabetic equipment covered.
Workers will be eligible for 3 paid days of professional development. There will also be 5 paid days for domestic violence leave and 24 months of unpaid but job-protected leave for education upgrading.
The on-call premium increases by $7 an hour and preceptor pay by $2 an hour.
As of next April, any workers who have been with AHS for at least 20 years, will have an addition 2% tacked onto their paycheque for long-service pay.
Anyone who has worked at least 810 hours (even part-time workers) in a year will be eligible for a $504 reimbursement to go toward their professional fees.
Finally, emergency medical services workers will receive the following improvements:
- Members changing professional designations will be placed on the same step on their new wage grid as they were on their previous wage grid.
- First break within 5 hours of working vs. after 5 hours
- Rovers now eligible for travel expense reimbursements
- Rovers will have scheduled start time and assigned station
- Rovers will be scheduled at least 12 hours in advance of a shift, otherwise they get double time for that shift.
All of next week, the bargaining team will conduct several town hall sessions, which will give the workers a chance to ask questions and get more information before voting on whether to ratify the tentative agreement.
The ratification vote will occur over a 2-week period, beginning on 28 August and ending on 10 September.
In the ratification vote for the last collective agreement, only 49% of eligible voters participate; although 85% of the voters chose to accept the agreement.
Update (27 August 2025): An HSAA member reached out to me to provide some clarification on the changes to the wage grids for those who move from a primary care paramedic designation to an advanced care paramedic designation. If a PCP with 8 years of service becomes an ACP after March 2024, they will be placed on step 8 of the wage grid. However, any workers who were already ACP as of March 2024 will remain at their existing step in the wage grid, regardless of how much PCP service they had prior to become ACP. For example, an ACP in the current step 4 and who has 8 or more years as a PCP will earn roughly $25,000–30,000 less over the life of this contract compared to a newly converted ACP. Over the next 5 years, that gap widens to more than $40,000.
Update (10 September 2025): HSAA published on their website the results of their ratification vote. Of those workers who are eligible to vote, 78% participated in the ratification process; however, they did not ratify the tentative agreement. Instead, just under 60% of the voters chose to reject the proposal. The union plans to consult with the workers it represents to determine what the next steps are, as seen in the video below.
