Last week, the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees published an update regarding contract negotiations for workers employed by the Salvation Army.
AUPE represents over workers at the Salvation Army’s Grace Manor, a continuing care home in Edmonton.
These workers include clerks, laundry workers, housekeepers, kitchen workers, maintenance workers, administrative assistants, recreation assistants, health care aides, and licensed practical nurses.
The most recent collective agreement for these workers expired this past September. It was a 3-year contract.
Negotiations for the new contract have been centred around another 3-year collective agreement.
Last November, during the early stages of bargaining, Salvation Army had proposed 4 wage increases:
| 1 January 2026 | 0.05% |
| 1 October 2026 | 1.25% |
| 1 October 2027 | 1.25% |
| 1 October 2028 | 2.00% |
| 5.55% |
That would have meant no wage increase in 2025, since the most recent wage increase they received was in October 2024.
Plus, none of the pay would be retroactive, regardless of when they ratified the agreement. For example, if it is not ratified until next year, none of their hours worked this year would have the two 2026 wage increases applied.
Instead of retroactive pay, they offed one-time bonuses:
| Full-time | $400 |
| Part-time | $200 |
| Casual | $50 |
On top of that, they proposed pushing back the start-time of the evening shift by two hours: from 15:00 to 17:00. According to AUPE, this could result in a loss of $6 per shift per worker.
This newest update from AUPE claims that Salvation Army has since moved from 5.55% over 3 years to 10.75% over 4 years, which is less than the 12% most public sector workers have been getting in Alberta over the last year or so.
Plus, real wages for these workers have been decreasing over the last two collective agreements. Here, take a look at the wage increases they were supposed to receive in those agreements:
| 1 October 2019 | 0.00% |
| 1 October 2020 | 0.00% |
| 1 October 2021 | 3.00% |
| 1 October 2022 | 1.25% |
| 1 October 2023 | 1.25% |
| 1 October 2024 | 1.25% |
Between their wage increase in October 2018 and October 2024, these workers received wage freezes in two of those years and a combined 6.75% in the remaining years.
During the same period, the consumer price index in Alberta rose 28.7 points, from 141.4 points to 170.1 points, a 20.29% increase.
Because their combined wage increase of 6.75% occured during a period where inflation was over 20%, these workers were dealing with a real wage cut of 13.55% heading into negotiations.
A wage increase of 5.55% comes nowhere close to dealing with that loss to real wages. Even 10.75% falls short, especially considering that it would be spread out over 4 years, not all at once, which means 4 more years of inflation to further erode real wages.
The workers’ bargaining team, in response, has asked for 15% over 3 years. 15% is enough to cover the 13.55% shortfall, but it will not cover inflation over the life of the new contract, not even if it is for just 3 years.
Salvation Army should be coming back to the table with an offer of more than 15% over the life of the contract. The bargaining team for the workers has proposed a more than reasonable offer, especially since these workers will still be taking a pay cut.
The employer has also since doubled their signing bonus, but any gains made in wage increases would still not be retroactive.
As a result, the workers’ bargaining team announced last week that they will be applying for mediation to help reach a new collective agreement.
