Earlier this month, Local 401 of the United Food and Commercial Workers posted on their website an update regarding contract negotiations for Red Deer care home workers.
Local 401 has represented these workers since 2018. Their most recent collective agreement expired this past May.
The bargaining committee that the workers elected to represent them met with the employer Aramark at the end of last month to begin negotiations on what will eventually be their third collective agreement since unionizing.
These workers are employed at the two care facilities owned by Bethany Care Foundation in Red Deer: Bethany Collegeside and CollegeSide Gardens.
Based out of Calgary, Bethany owns over 2 dozen continuing care and senior living facilities in Calgary, Red Deer, and other communities around those cities.
Bethany contracts out their general support services to Aramark, which is the technical employer of these workers, who are in such positions as cooks, housekeepers, servers, dishwashers, and those working in food prep, laundry, and receiving.
Even though it is still early in the bargaining process, the workers’ bargaining team has already tabled their wage offers.
They want an immediate wage increase for all workers, including starting rate, post-probation rate, and the rate for after 18 months.
| Cook | Food prep | All others | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting | $26.44 | $19.30 | $18.92 |
| Post-probation | $26.53 | $19.76 | $20.65 |
| 18 months | $28.65 | $21.83 | $21.42 |
Here is what they were making at the end of their last contract.
| Cook | Food prep | All others | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting | $18.55 | $18.18 | $17.63 |
| Post-probation | $19.14 | $18.41 | $17.86 |
| 18 months | $20.87 | $19.32 | $18.76 |
They also want this retroactive to May 2026.
Then, they want an additional 10% wage increase to come into effect next May. This would be across the board. They got a 10% increase in their last collective agreement, but it was over the course of the entire contract, not all in the second year. Their last contract was over 4 years, and they have proposed making its replacement only 2 years long.
Here are some other offers they proposed.
The bargaining team for the workers wants Aramark to pay 16¢ an hour per worker into a health, safety, education, and training fund owned by the union. This would be new to the collective agreement.
They proposed new training guidelines. If Aramark accepts this proposal, new workers would get paid orientation, which would include at least 5 buddy shifts for each work area they are assigned to work in. As well, workers who are asked to do training would receive and extra $3.50 an hour for every hour they spend training their new fellow workers.
A new acting manager premium of $3.50 an hour would go into effect, if approved, for all workers who have to be in charge when no manager is on site.
The workers proposed increasing overtime from time and a half to double time for all hour worked after 2 hours of overtime. Right now, it is time and a half for all overtime hours. Plus, they want a meal voucher if they work more than 2 hours.
Related to that, their bargaining team proposed increasing pay for working holidays to double time for all hours worked beyond 8 hours. Currently, they are paid time and a half for working general holidays, regardless of the number of hours.
They asked for a clothing allowance of $100 per year for work clothing beyond the 2 sets of required shirts already supplied by Aramark.
Footwear allowance would double, from $50 per year to $100 per calendar year under the proposed changes.
Paid vacation time maxes out at 5 weeks once a worker has been employed for 15 years. The workers have proposed an extra week of paid vacation time once someone hits 20 years of employment.
They want to increase bereavement leave from 4 paid days to 7 paid days for the death of a spouse, child, or parent (including step, foster, and guardian/ward) and 5 days for the death of a grandparent, grandchild, pibling, nibling, or sibling.
Family responsibility leave would increase from 3 days per year to 5 days per year.
The workers’ bargaining team has proposed 12 unpaid days per year for gynaecological health. Related to that, they want free and easily accessible menstrual products in all worker washrooms.
They also proposed a new long-service premium, which would be a one-time lump sum payment that would kick in when a worker hits the following milestones for length of employment:
| 10 years | $500 |
| 15 years | $250 |
| 18 years | $250 |
| 20 years | $250 |
Plus, they want a retention bonus, which would be paid out once a quarter during the contract and would be equal to 2% of all earnings during that quarter. This would be a lump sum payment, so it would not affect their base salary.
Shift premiums would also increase if Aramark accepts the new proposals.
| Old | Proposed | |
|---|---|---|
| Evening | $0.50 | $1.50 |
| Weekend | $1.00 | $1.50 |
Plus, workers want to be able to stack shift premiums. For example, they would get a combined $3.00 for every evening hour worked during a weekend shift, rather than just $1.50.
Finally, they proposed several changes to health benefits, including making them available to all full-time and part-time workers. Right now, workers have to work at least 20–25 hours per week to get health benefits, which encourages Aramark to keep hours low.
| Old | Proposed | |
|---|---|---|
| Life insurance | $25,000 | $50,000 |
| Sick days | 5 days | 12 days |
| Speech therapist | — | $300 per year |
| Chiropractor | $200 per year | $500 per year |
| Naturopath | $200 per year | $500 per year |
| osteopath | $200 per year | $500 per year |
| Podiatrist | $200 per year | $500 per year |
| Chiropodist | — | $500 per year |
| Acupuncture | — | $500 per year |
| Hearing aids | — | $300 per 4 years |
| Orthotics | $300 per year | 1 pair per year |
| Prescription co-pay | $90% | 100% |
| Glasses | $250 per 2 years | $350 per 2 years |
| Basic dental restoration | 90% | 100% |
| Periodontics | — | 100% |
| Major dental services | — | 100% |
| Dentures | — | Every 5 years |
Aramark has not presented any monetary offers yet. The two parties will meet again next month to begin monetary discussions.
