Last week, the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees published an update regarding contract negotiations for workers employed by the Lamont County Housing Foundation.
The not-for-profit organization, which is managed by a board filled with representatives from nearby municipalities, oversees Beaverhill Pioneer Lodge, a 55-unit seniors housing facility in Lamont, as well as a combined 62 units of senior housing in the communities of Andrew, Bruderheim, Chipman, Lamont, and Mundare.
AUPE represents just under 50 workers employed by the foundation, including activity coordinators, cooks, kitchen workers, housekeeping workers, maintenance workers, and receptionists.
According to Alberta’s collective bargaining agreements database, the most recent collective agreement for these workers expired over a year ago, at the end of 2024.
Bargaining for a new agreement did not begin until last August, 7 months after the last collective agreement had already expired.
During the initial 2-day bargaing session in August, the employer offered to do a 4-year collective agreement. Their previous 2 agreements have all been 3-year agreements.
They also offered small wage increases in every year of that proposed contract:
| 1 January 2025 | 1.5% |
| 1 January 2026 | 1.5% |
| 1 January 2027 | 1.5% |
| 1 January 2028 | 1.5% |
That is a combined 6% over 4 years. That is better than the 1.33% annual average they received in their last collective agreement, but just barely. However, it is worse than the 2% per year they got in the agreement prior to that one or the 3.33% in the one before that.
The bargaining team for the workers responded with an offer of 35% over just 2 years.
| 1 January 2025 | 25% |
| 1 January 2026 | 10% |
Over their last 3 contracts, these workers have received a combined 20% increase to their wages. Inflation during the same period has been 23.35%, which left these workers with a cut to real wages of 3.35% heading into bargaining.
A 35% wage increase would cover that real wage cut, as well as inflation in 2024, inflation last year, and inflation this year.
When the two parties met this past January, the employer had doubled their wage offer. They still wanted a 4-year contract, but they increased their 1.5% annual wage increase to 3% every year. That brings the combined increase to 12% from just 6%.
There was no indication on whether the workers’ bargaining committee had budged on their offer.
As well, Lamont County Housing Foundation had agreed to give kitchen and housekeeping workers an additional 4% next January to help their wages get closer to the living wage of $22.65. At the end of their last contract, they were still below $19 an hour.
In January, LCHF had also proposed increasing the boot allowance from $200 every 2 years to $250 every 2 years. They also offered to increase the flex spending account by $75, which is currently at just $500 for full-time workers.
During that same bargaining round, the employer proposed a short-term and long-term disability plan that would be 100% worker funded. The workers’ bargaining team countered with the employer covering 75% of the cost and the worker covering 25% of the cost. If the workers has to cover all of the cost, the small increase they would be getting would be effectively negligible.
They also wanted to increase the night shift differential by 25¢: it is currently $2.75 an hour. As well, LCHF want to introduce a new standy pay premium of $2 an hour for workers who are on call maintenance—the workers’ bargaining team said that the amount offered is too low.
In last week’s update, the bargaining team for the workers reported that Lamont County Housing Foundation wants to eliinate stacking of shift differentials.
Workers who are scheduled for a evening, night, or weekend shifts currently get the following additional hourly pay:
| Evening (15:00–23:00) | $2.25 |
| Night (23:00–07:00) | $2.75 |
| Weekend (06:00 Sat – 06:00 Mon) | $2.50 |
If a worker is scheduled for an evening or a night shift on the weekend, they currently get both the weekend premium plus the other premium. The employer proposed in last month’s bargaining session to eliminate workers getting stacking both premiums in favour of just the higher of the two.
The worker’s bargaining team feels that the employer has misinterpreted how premiums are supposed to be paid in Alberta and plans to file a policy grievance with the Alberta Labour Relations Board to challenge this latest proposal.
Needless to say that there is still no tentative agreement for these workers to vote on yet, and it may still be quite some time until there is one.
The last collective agreement was not ratified until a year after the previous one had expired, an it has now been almost a year and a half.
