Salvation Army workers win first contract

Earlier this year, I wrote a story about 7 workers unionizing at the Salvation Army’s recycling centre in Edmonton.

The workers had applied to the Alberta Labour Relations Board through Local 362 of the General Teamsters on 21 February 2024 to hold a certification vote.

Well, the ALRB did so, and the majority of the workers voted in favour of joining Local 362. The ALRB certified them as a bargaining unit on 15 March 2024, according to their active certificates table.

Earlier this month, Alberta Mediation Services published their bargaining update for September–October 2024, and in it was a new collective agreement for these recently unionized workers. In fact, it’s their first on.

The new agreement went into effect on 26 June 2024 and will expire on 1 February 2028, almost 4 years later.

The new contract brings with it 3 wage increases. Because this is their first contract, there is no wage increase in the first year.

Year 1	N/A
Year 2	2.00%
Year 3	2.00%
Year 4	2.90%

That’s a combined increase of 6.9% over three years, which averages out to 2.3% per year. It’s difficult to predict how close this will match inflation, since these are all future wage increases, but hopefully inflation will be less than it has been the last two years.

Truck drivers will be paid $23 an hour in their first year of their contract, and workers employed in distribution and recycling will be start out at $20 an hour. Workers employed as shipper/receiver will get and additional $1.75 per hour.

Here are some more highlights from this first contract.

Any temporary worker who has worked either 3 months or 500 hours will be offered a regular position. That time will count toward their 90-day probationary period.

Shop stewards will be allowed time off to serve as a union delegate or as a union committee member, but that time off will be unpaid.

Seniority for regular workers will be based on how long they have been employed, but seniority for part-time workers will be based on the number of days worked from the date of hire.

The employer will provide dust masks, gloves, and smocks to workers at no cost to the workers. Drivers and swampers will receive uniforms at no cost them. All company provided clothing and PPEs must be used only at the recycling centre.

Salvation Army has agreed to provide a boot allowance of $175 per year for steel-toed work boots. Workers must purchase the boots then submit a reimbursement request.

Overtime will be paid at 1.5 times the regular rate of pay for the first 4 hours over 8 hours and double time for anything after those 4 hours. As well, if a worker has to work more than 5 days in a row, every hour worked on the 6th day will be 1.5 times pay, and hours worked on the 7th day will be paid out as double time.

Workers can volunteer for overtime, with the most senior workers getting first dibs.

Overtime that is assigned with less than 24 hours notice will be paid out at double time.

If the employer tells a regular worker that they don’t need to work the next day, the employer can’t then schedule a part-time worker to take that shift.

Regular workers will be guaranteed 8 hours worth of pay if they show up to work at the scheduled start time for a regularly scheduled workday and 3 hours worth of pay when reporting for duty on a call-out or call-back basis.

Workers will have a paid lunch break of 30 minutes, as well as two paid 15-minute breaks (one in the first half of the shift, and one in the second half). If they work overtime above 60 minutes, they will be entitles to a third paid 15-minute break.

If the employer makes an error on a worker’s pay, they will be required to pay a $25 penalty to that worker. If the error results in a loss of pay to the worker of 2 days worth or more, the worker will be reimbursed by direct deposit within 3 business days.

Paid bereavement leave will be available for workers to attend the funeral of a member of the worker’s immediate family (partner, parent, children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, in-laws, and any relative who lives with the worker). The leave is for a maximum of 3 days, unless the worker has to travel 600 kilometres or more, then they get an additional day.

The employer has a greed to pay workers who have to attend to jury duty. They will pay the difference between the jury duty pay and what the worker would’ve received had they worked a full shift.

Here is a list of the 12 general holidays that qualify for holiday pay.

• New Year’s Day
• Family Day
• Good Friday
• Victoria Day
• Canada Day
• Civic Holiday (August)
• Labour Day
• National Truth & Reconciliation Day
• Thanksgiving Day
• Remembrance Day
• Christmas Day
• Boxing Day

Workers will be entitles to paid vacation time, depending on how long they’ve been employed with The Salvation Army:

Length of employment	Vacation time
Under 1 year	1 day per each month served
1–2 years	2 weeks
2–7 years	3 weeks
7–14 years	4 weeks
14–20 years	5 weeks
20+ years	6 weeks

Workers will accumulate 1 sick day per month of employment, up to a maximum of 85 days. To take sick leave, workers must provide at least 30-minutes of warning to their supervisor prior to the shift start time.

The Salvation Army will give workers severance pay, in the event of a layoff, dependent on their length of service.

Length of employment	Severance pay
Under 1 year	1 week
1–2 years	3 weeks
2–3 years	4 weeks
3–4 years	6 weeks
4–10 years	8 weeks
10 years and above	10 weeks

Health benefits will last for one month after the layoff.

Workers will be enrolled in the employer’s group registered retirement savings plan, with the employer paying 4% of regular paid earnings for workers employed under 5 years, 5% for those working 5–10 years, and 6% for those over 10 years.

If a worker decides to make voluntary contributions to the group RRSP, the employer will match it up to 2% of earnings for those working under 10 years and 4% for those working over 10 years.

As part of the collective agreement, workers will be enrolled in the employers health and welfare plan, although no details were included in the contract.