Earlier this month, the Alberta Union of Public Employees published an update regarding negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement for care home workers.
These 200 or so workers are employed by Covenant Health at St. Therese Villa, a supportive living facility in Lethbridge that serves over 200 residents. They include licensed practical nurses, health care aides, activity assistants, programme assistants, and people working in maintenance.
The previous contract for these workers expired back in March.
Covenant Health is proposing a 7.5% wage increase over the life of the 4-year contract.
| Date of ratification | 2.00% |
| 1 April 2025 | 2.00% |
| 1 April 2026 | 1.75% |
| 1 April 2027 | 1.75% |
That’s much better than what the received in the last contract.
| 31 March 2021 | 0.00% |
| 1 October 2021 | 1.00% |
| 1 September 2022 | 1.25% |
| 1 April 2023 | 2.00% |
One of the first things that sticks out to me regarding the new proposal is that the first raise would be effective as of the ratification date, rather than 1 April 2024, which is when the contract itself would likely take effect.
Given that the last contract wasn’t negotiated and ratified for over to years after the previous one expired, there is a possibility that they may not even see a raise at all in the first year of this contract.
The negotiating team for the workers responded with a much more ambitious proposal: they want 35% in a 2-year proposal.
| 1 April 2024 | 25% |
| 1 April 2025 | 10% |
Now, that will probably sound like a lot to some readers, but let’s provide some context.
Here is what these workers have received over the last decade in terms of wage increases.
| 2015 | 1.20% |
| 2016 | 0.80% |
| 2017 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 0.00% |
| 2021 | 1.00% |
| 2022 | 1.25% |
| 2023 | 2.00% |
| 2024 | 0.00% |
That 2024 figure I added only because the year is nearly over, and they haven’t received an increase yet.
So, during the last 3 contracts, these workers have seen 5 wage freezes, which have kept their combined wage increase to just 6.25%.
During the same period, the consumer price index in Alberta grew from 132.2 in April 2014 to 168.6 in April 2024. That’s an increase of 36.4 points, or 27.53%.
This means that real wages—wages adjusted for inflation—for these workers actually dropped by 21.28%.
That 25% wage increase that the workers’s bargaining team has proposed for the first year is mostly to just make up for the loss in real wages during the last decade. It would also cover inflation between April 2024 and April 2025, before the next wage increase comes in.
Keep in mind that some of these workers were still making under $20 an hour or just a few cents over it at the end of their last contract.
Here are some highlights from the other proposals that the workers—through their bargaining committee, which includes 3 workers employed at St. Therese Villa—have made.
They have proposed the following increases to shift premiums:
| Previous | Proposed | |
|---|---|---|
Evening shift | $2.75 | $5.00 |
| Night shift | $5.00 | $10.00 |
| Weekend shift | $3.25 | $8.00 |
They have proposed a new peak period premium of $5 an hour for shifts worked between 1 June and 6 September and between 15 December and 6 January.
Also new to the contract would be a super shift premium of $1.85 for every hour worked between 19:00 Friday and 07:30 on Saturday and between 19:00 on Saturday and 07:30 on Sunday.
Finally, they have also proposed a new short premium of $2 an hour for any shift worked with less than 24 hours notice.
The workers have proposed adding National Truth and Reconciliation Day has a named holiday, which would have statutory holiday pay attached to it.
Also proposed are some increases to paid vacation days:
| Years of employment | Previous | Proposed |
|---|---|---|
| <= 1 year | 15 days | 20 days |
| 2–9 years | 20 days | 25 days |
| 10–19 years | 25 days | 30 days |
| 20–25 years | 30 days | 35 days |
| 25+ years | 30 days | 40 days |
They also want to increase on-call pay for maintenance workers from $3 an hour to $15 an hour for regularly scheduled days of work but increase it from $4.25 an hour to $22.50 for scheduled days off or named holidays.
Their bargaining team wants to increase the footwear allowance from $200 every other year to $250 every year.
They also want to make the 30-minute lunch break paid and if the employer requires them to stay on site during their lunch break, they must pay the worker double time. Plus, if they get called back to work before their lunch break or rest break are finished, they either get the break later in their shift or they get triple pay for the rest period.
Also proposed is moving from 75% of the premiums being covered by the employer for health benefits to 100% of the premiums being covered by the employer.
As well, they want to increase the flexible health spending account from $850 a year to $2750 per year and add bus passes, contributions to TFSAs, and ergonomic support to the list of eligible expense for the spending account.
