Morinville care home workers file to unionize

Earlier this week, the Alberta Labour Relations Board published their latest new applications report. In it was an application for union certification.

Local 3000 of the Labourers’ International Union of North America, also known as LiUNA filed the application on 16 December 2024 on behalf of workers employed by Yarrow Limited Partnership.

The company operates Aspen House, a 72-space continuing care facility in Morinville, which is owned by Optima Living.

LiUNA applied for all workers at the facility, which totals around 65.

If the ALRB approves the application, they will hold a certification vote, during which time, these workers will be able to democratically choose whether to unionize with Local 300.

To submit a union certification application, unions must prove support from 40% of the workers, which, in this case, would be 26 workers.

Assuming those 26 workers already supporting the application follow through and vote in favour, they would need only another 6 coworkers to join them to reach a majority.

Should the workers vote in favour of unionization, their first step will be to form a bargaining committee and begin negotiating their first contract.

Because the ALRB doesn’t archive their new applications reports, I’ve included a copy of this report below.

Update (29 January 2025): The ALRB issued a certificate for these workers today, officially making this location an unionized workplace.