Last month, the Mediation Services department of Alberta Jobs, Economy, and Trade published the July 2024 Bargaining Update.
This monthly report provides information about the unionized workforce, primarily in Alberta. Last month, Mediation Services received settlement information regarding 26 private sector and 10 public sector bargaining settlements, covering 2,032 and 6,698 workers respectively.
One of those settlements was for over 120 workers employed by SRI Homes at the company’s Lethbridge production facility.
These workers construct factory-built homes and are represented by Local 1-207 of the United Steelworkers.
They had been without a new contract since their previous one expired in November 2023. The workers and the employers finally settled on a new contract just this past March, but Mediation Services only recently received their copy of the agreement.
The new 3-year contract is retroactive to the beginning of December 2023 and will expire in November 2026 and includes wage increases, the first of which is retroactive.
| 1 December 2023 | 2.2% |
| As of ratification | 3.0% |
| 1 December 2024 | 3.0% |
| 1 December 2025 | 2.5% |
That works out to a combined increase of 10.7%, or 11.13% if you account for compound increases. The annual average is 3.71%.
This is much better than the increases they received in their previous contract, which gave most workers just 1% per year.
| 1 December 2019 | 1.0% |
| 1 December 2020 | 1.0% |
| 1 December 2021 | 1.0% |
| 1 December 2022 | 1.0% |
While it’s good these workers will receive a higher increase in their new 3-year contract than they did in their previous 4-year contract, it’s important to keep both increases in context
The consumer price index in Alberta in December 2018 was 140.5. By December 2023, it had increased 25.1 points to 165.6, a 17.86% jump.
That left the workers with a cut to real wages—wages adjusted for inflation—of 6.73% by the end of their last contract.
The increases in the first two years of the new contract will make up for that real wage cut, but inflation over the last year, next year, and the final year of their new contract will eat away at what little cushion they’ll have left.
That’s what happens when you give your workers a tiny increase and then inflation ends up being 4 times that.
The lowest paid workers were getting $18.36 an hour by the end of the last collective agreement. By the end of this new one, those workers will be receiving $21.07 an hour. Keep in mind that as of July 2024, the median hourly wage in Alberta is $30 an hour.
Here are some highlights of other changes in the new contract.
There are now 8 job positions that the employer can hire new workers directly into a vacancy, up from 7 in the previous contract. The new position is “exterior envelope”.
The employer has increased the boot and clothing allowance from $100 semi-annually to $300 annually.
Polarity testers have been added to the list of tools that the employer will replace if they are broken or worn out.
Vision care has been increased from a maximum of $225 every two years to $350 every two years for lenses, frames, and contact lenses.
Health and welfare benefits will now terminate for workers who reach 70 years old. There was no age restriction previously.
Under the old contract, workers would qualify for dental, weekly indemnity, and extended medical after working with SRI Homes for a year. Now dental and extended medical kick in after 1040 worked hours.
Prescription drug coverage has increased from 70% to 80%.
