Earlier this week, the Alberta Labour Relations Board published their third new applications report of July 2026. The report summarizes all the application they received between 12 July and 19 July 2026.
One of the applications was for a union certification.
The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees filed the application on 14 July 2026 on behalf of workers employed by Charis Seniors Residence Limited Partnership, which is the official business name of Aster Gardens.
Located in Sherwood Park, Aster Gardens is a 155-space supportive living facility. It is managed by the BC-based Optima Living.
The summary in the report said that the bargaining unit proposed by AUPE would include all workers employed in so-called auxiliary nursing care, which typically include licensed practical nurses and health care aides. It would be over 50 workers.
To apply for union certification in Alberta, a union must demonstrate support from at least 40% of the workers in the proposed bargaining unit. In this case, that would be 22 workers.
A hearing has been set for next Tuesday (28th), during which time the labour board will hear arguments, if there are any, from the employer as to why these workers should not be able to unionize with AUPE.
Listed in the application summary as employer contacts are Kailey Brown and Jarrett Serediak.
As of this past March, Brown was general manager at Optima Living’s Country Cottage facility, also in Sherwood Park.
According to LinkedIn, Serediak is a director of labour relations for Optima Living. Interestingly, he was the labour relations director for the NAIT Academic Staff Association for 5 years. Serediak was a labour relations specialist with ATCO before getting his current job with Optima Living.
Should the ALRB approve AUPE’s application, they will hold a certification vote. This will give workers a chance to democratically choose whether to unionize with AUPE.
Assuming the 22 workers I mentioned prviously follow through with their initial support and vote in favour of unionizing, they would need to convince just 6 more of their fellow workers to join them.
If a majority of these workers vote in favour of unionizing, one of their first orders of business will be to elect a bargaining committee to begin negotiating their first collective agreement.
