NorQuest College offers workers 10% raise

Earlier this week, the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees published an update regarding negotiations for a new collective agreement between NorQuest College and AUE workers employed there.

NorQuest is a community college in Edmonton provides diplomas and certificate programmes in health, community studies, and business.

The more than 400 AUPE members employed by NorQuest include clerks, technicians, administrative assistants, social workers, analysts, instructional assistants, nurses, advisors, specialists, and administrators.

Their previous contract expired over a year ago, in June 2024.

Bargaining on the new contract began at the end of July 2024; however most of the bargaining over the next year focused on non-monetary items.

Negotiating on wages started last week on the 8th and 9th, when NorQuest offered 10% over 4 years.

2024	3.00%
2025	3.00%
2026	2.00%
2027	2.00%

This is less than what workers have received in other postsecondary institutions in Alberta. For example, Alberta University of the Arts, Bow Valley College, Grant MacEwan University, Keyano College, Lakeland College, and Northwestern Polytechnic all gave their faculty 12% over 4 years in new collective agreements earlier this year.

Even NorQuest College itself gave its faculty 12% over 4 years.

But that is not all. Take a look at how much their wages increased over the last two contracts.

1 July 2017	0.00%
1 July 2018	0.00%
1 July 2019	1.00%
1 July 2020	0.00%
1 July 2021	0.00%
1 July 2022	0.00%
1 April 2023	1.25%
1 December 2023	1.50%

Since their raise in 2016, these workers have received a combined 3.75%. That is an average of 0.54% per year.

Meanwhile, during the same period, inflation in Alberta increased by 22.42%, more than 6 times what they go for wage increases.

This means that after two contracts and 5 years of wage freezes, these workers were left with a cut to real wages of 18.67%. Even if they get the 10% increases NorQuest College has proposed, they would still be holding a real wage cut of 8.67%.

And remember, that 10% is over 4 years. Obviously, inflation will increase during that period, too. In fact, between July 2023 and July 2025, inflation has already increased by 3.98%, which causes our real wage cut to jump up to 12.65%, with two more years still to go in a collective agreement that is still being negotiated.

This offer was pathetic, and I hope NorQuest College (and the provincial government, who is pressuring them to negotiate low) comes back to the table with meaningful proposals that get workers out of the unaffordability hole they have been forced into.