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.
Among those settlements were three first-time contracts for 42 operating engineers in Alberta—although technically, one of the contracts was published in the June 2024 Bargaining Update.
The workers are employed amongst two companies but are all represented by Local 955 of the Operating Engineers.
Two of the contracts represent about 30 workers employed by Standard General in their maintenance division, about 12 in Calgary and 18 in Edmonton. The remaining 12 workers were employed with Cropac Equipment.
Both of the Standard General contracts were settled back in March, with the Calgary workers ratifying their collective agreement on the 11th and the Edmonton workers ratifying theirs on the 19th.
These workers include forepersons, lead hands, journey-level tradespeople (such as mechanics, welders, and machinists), apprentices, and service workers, who drive fuel trucks and perform light maintenance and repair on equipment.
The labour these workers perform is generally in road construction and maintenance.
Because both of these contracts are first-time collective agreements for these workers, having only recently unionized, there are no wage increases in the first year of these two-year contracts. However, the Calgary workers are set to receive a 1.5% wage increase in March, and the Edmonton workers will see a 2% increase in March and a 1% increase next September.
Also, because these are brand new contracts, I can’t compare them to what they had before, so it’s difficult to determine what materials improvements, if any, have been made with these new contracts. However, I can highlight some of the benefits these workers get in their contracts, realizing that they may have been receiving them prior to the contract.
Night shift premiums for Calgary workers will be $2.50 per hour, while Edmonton workers will get $3.50 an hour.
Workers at both locations will be entitled to a 75¢ per hour tool allowance when the employer requires them to use their own tools. This allowance is available to journey-level mechanics, indentured apprentice mechanics, servicepersons, and welders.
Vacation pay will be calculated at 6% for workers at both locations.
Bereavement leave includes up to 3 days of paid leave and is available for workers at both locations.
Standard General will compensate workers mileage when they are required to travel over 65 kilometres from their respective city centre to get to a job site. Mileage will be paid out only for travel beyond the 65-kilometre mark.
Related to this, workers will have access to a $60 meal allowance if they have to work on a job site at least 150 kilometres away from their city centre and meals aren’t provided.
The employer promises to pay $2.05 per hour for every hour worked by each worker under both of these contracts into the IUOE Local 955 health and wellness trust fund. This will increase next March to $2.10 for Calgary workers and $2.25 for Edmonton workers.
Employer pension contributions will be $3.50 per hour for each hour worked and will apply to workers in both locations. This amount will increase to $3.75 next March for just the Edmonton workers.
Calgary workers will also be eligible for a boot allowance: 50% reimbursement on the total cost of newly purchased work boots, but only up to $100.
As mentioned, the other contract was for workers employed with Cropac Equipment, who only ratified their first collective agreement in July.
This 3-year deal was a long time coming, as the workers had to fight for over 5 years just to get the employer to recognize their union.
The workers were lucky to have their union certified by the Alberta Labour Relations Board in a very rare remedial certification, which is when the workers are awarded certification without having to vote, usually because of unionbusting tactics of the employer.
Based out of Nisku, Cropac Equipment specializes in sales, maintenance, and repair of cranes and forklifts as well as providing on-site crane related services.
The workers include journey-level heavy duty equipment technicians, welders, electricians, millwrights, mechanics, automotive service technicians, and mobile crane operators. It also includes field service technicians, servicepersons, and general labourers.
This new contract expires in March 2027 and brings with it an immediate 22% increase, which amounts to between $7 and $11 an hour for most of the workers. The lowest paid worker will now receive $23 an hour.
Increases in the second and third years will be determined later but will fall somewhere between 2% and 5%.
Workers will see their tool allowance double from $500 a year to $1000 a year.
Now that these workers belong to IUOE, they can participate in the union’s pension plan. The Cropac has agreed to pay 7% into the pension plan for each worker, increasing their contribution to 8% next year and 9% in the final year of the contract.
They also get to participate in the union’s health and wellness plan, which the employer will also contribute to, starting with $2.25 per hour worked, increasing to $2.35 next year and $2.45 in the final year.
These workers had no sick pay prior to unionizing. Now they get up to 3 paid sick days and 3 additional days unpaid each year. They also get up to 2 days paid leave for the death of an immediate family member, something they didn’t get before.
