In an email sent out yesterday, Sean Chilton, the vice-president of people, health professions, and information technology at Alberta Health Services, told non-union exempt employees (NUEE) that they they’re getting a raise this year.
A copy of that email was sent to The Alberta Worker.
Non-unionized employees include a wide range of employees, from administrative assistants to deputy ministers earning. Two thirds of NUEEs are in management positions.
Until last summer, some NUEEs hadn’t seen a wage increase in at least 8 years. However, on 1 July 2022, the provincial government introduced an interim approach for managing base salary adjustments for NUEEs, which allowed for a one-time increment adjustment.
According to a CBC article from last May, “opted-out workers with “satisfactory performance” will receive up to 4% salary increases, and managers will get up to 3%. Union-exempt employees will climb one step on their pay grid.”
Chilton said in his email that the provincial government has given AHS permission to once again adjust NUEE salary structure and provide one-step increments for eligible employees.
The adjustment will be split in two:
- 1.25% increase (retroactive to 1 January 2023)
- 2.0% increase (effective 1 September 2023)
These increases will affect both employee base salaries and the steps on the NUEE salary structure. As well, any NUEEs who are eligible will receive a one-step increment within the new salary structure, effective tomorrow.
Keep in mind that inflation between December 2021 and December 2022 was 6.0%. And that’s not counting all the other inflationary increases since the last increase in the previous decade.
It’s good that employees are getting a raise, but it won’t be enough to catch up on inflation over the last 10 years.
And remember, these employees are not unionized. They have very little bargaining power, and are more or less depend on the whims of AHS management to be able to afford increases to their cost of living.
For example, there’s no indication at the moment that they’ll get a raise next year.
