Earlier this week, I received a copy of a memorandum of agreement from Local 417 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
The union represents over 400 workers employed with the Red Deer Catholic Separate School Division.
The school division oversees the operation of Catholic schools in Blackfalds, Innisfail, Olds, Red Deer (of course), Rocky Mountain House, and Sylvan Lake.
These workers include educational assistants, secretaries, and library workers.
The MOA is a tentative collective agreement presented to members in a ratification vote. In this particular case, the workers voted on 22 April 2025 in favour of ratifying the agreement.
This is actually only the third collective agreement these workers have received since unionizing their workplace in December 20290.
Their previous contract was settled only last June and expired just two months later. The new contract, once updated and finalized, will run from September 2024 until August 2028.
Having a 4-year contract is significant, as their first contract was only 1 year long, and the second contract was for just 2 years.
The workers are set to receive wage increases in each year of the new agreement.
| 1 September 2024 | 3.00% |
| 1 September 2025 | 3.00% or $1.25/hr |
| 1 September 2026 | 3.00% |
| 1 September 2026 | 2.45% |
| 1 September 2027 | 3.00% or $1.25/hr |
The increases in 2025 and 2027 will be either 3% or $1.25 an hour, whichever is higher. As well, the 2.45% increase in 2026 is a market adjustment, and it will be added to but won’t compound the 3% increase on the same date
This works out to around 14.45% over the next 4 years, with some workers potentially getting a bit more, depending on the position.
This is way better than their last contract, where they received a single 2.75% increase, and it was effective to only the date of ratification, so there was no retroactive pay, even though the school board dragged out negotiations for 2 years.
The school board gave these workers a measly 1% in their first contract.
Over the course of the two previous contracts, (between February 2021 and June 2024), inflation in Alberta grew 15.71%. A combined increase of just 3.75% pales in comparison to that.
These workers were left with a real wage cut of 11.96% heading into negotiating their new contract. And a combined increase of 14.45% will definitely help with that.
Except that leaves them with just 2.49% for this new contract, which isn’t going to be enough to cover inflation over the life of the new contract.
But it could’ve been worse.
Here are some other changes in the new collective agreement compared to their first agreement.
Temporary workers no longer need to complete the probationary period and their positions no longer need to be at least 6 months in duration.
Local 417 will now get 30 minutes with new workers during professional development days to acquaint them with the benefits and duties of belonging to a union.
The probationary period for new workers has been shorted from 10 months to 6 months.
Group benefits now apply to any workers who have completed their probationary period. Previously, it was for just regular workers.
The maximum accumulation of paid sick leave has changed from 90 calendar days to 70 work days.
New to the collective agreement are the two clauses in the article on leaves of absences:
13.2.2 Extended disability benefits shall take effect after 90 calendar days of continuous absence due to illness and/or injury, subject to approval by the benefit carrier.
13.2.3 In order to ensure continuity of instruction for students and continuity of income replacement for employees, eligible employees are expected to apply for Extended Disability Benefits at the earliest possible opportunity.
Further to the wage increases I outlines above, the new collective agreement eliminates step 0 in the wage grid, which means that the starting wage for every position will also get a bump in addition to the annual increases. This grid bump won’t take effect until September 2025.
As well, casual workers will no longer get their own pay rate as of September 2025. They’ll be paid the starting wage of their position’s classification in the wage grid.
Workers will now participate in the CAAT Pension Plan. The worker and employer contribution amounts will remain at 5% and 6%, respectively.
The school division is piloting a liaison committee with the union to discuss issue that affect these workers, such as working conditions and job duties. The workers will provide 3 members for the committee, as will the school division, and the two parties will jointly chair committee meetings.
The new collective agreement—or rather a letter of understanding appended to it—also lays out the structure and function of an occupational health and safety committee.
