Last week, the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees published an update on their website regarding contract negotiations for workers employed by Northern Lakes College.
Based in Slave Lake, the publicly funded comprehensive community college also has campuses in over two dozen municipalities throughout Northern Alberta. It specializes in trades and apprenticeship, career education, university studies and work force development.
AUPE represents about 100 Northern Lakes College workers, who are employed in a wide variety of positions, including student learning assistants, admissions support, administrative assistants, lab assistants, technical support specialists, maintenance workers, library workers, marketing and communications specialists, and those working in recreation services, fund development, purchasing, and the trades.
These workers have been waiting for a new collective agreement since their previous one expired in June 2024, nearly 2 years ago. Bargaining on a new agreement did not begin until March of last year, 9 months after the last agreement had already expired.
Last month, the bargaining committee for the workers announced that they had reached a tentative agreement. Voting occurred between the 14th and 17th of April.
The update they published last week reported that they had both ratified the agreement, and it went into effect on 29 April 2026; although it is retroactive to 2024.
According to the workers’ bargaining committee—which included an e-learning specialist, an accounting assistant, and an administrative assistant—the new agreement includes a 12% increase over 4 years.
| 1 July 2024* | 3.00% |
| 1 July 2025* | 3.00% |
| 1 July 2026 | 3.00% |
| 1 July 2027 | 3.00% |
| 12.00% |
This was not at all surprising, given that most public sector collective agreements negotiated over the last year or so have ended with 12% over 4 years.
And while that does sound impressive, keep in mind that they were coming off several years of wage freezes when they went into bargaining.
| 1 July 2017 | 0.00% |
| 1 July 2018 | 0.00% |
| 1 July 2019 | 1.0% |
| 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% |
| 3.75% |
Over their last two collective agreements, they saw a combined increase of just 3.75%.
Meanwhile, during the same period, the consumer price index in Alberta rose 30.4 points, from 135.6 points in July 2016 to 166.0 points in July 2023. That is a 22.42% jump.
Because they got a 3.75% wage increase during a period when inflation was 22.42%, they ended up going into bargaining with a cut to real wages of 18.67%.
This 12% wage increase—which was mandated by the Provincial Bargaining and Compensation Office—falls short of covering that wage reduction of nearly 19%.
In fact, with a combined raise of just 12%, these workers are still left with a wage cut of 6.67%.
Plus, that 12% is spread out over 4 years, which means 4 more years of inflation, so that 6.67% real wage cut will end up being much more. Inflation since July 2023 has already hit 5.96%, nearly doubling that real wage cut. And we still have two more years of the contract to go.
That being said, wages were not the only thing new in the recently ratified collective agreement.
Workers will no get a health spending account. The inaugural amount is $750 per year.
The northern allowance pay has increased; although they did not say by how much. It was $290 in the previous collective agreement and is available to workers who live and work at a location north of the 57th parallel.
National Day of Truth and Reconciliation will now be recognized as a non-operational day.
Language has changed in the collective agreement to ensure that people serve only one probationary period.
The new collective agreement will expire in June 2028.
