Last month, the Mediation Services department of Alberta Jobs, Economy, and Trade published the January 2025 Bargaining Update.
This monthly report provides information about the unionized workforce, primarily in Alberta. In December, Mediation Services received settlement information regarding 28 private sector and 11 public sector bargaining settlements, covering 4,351 and 944 workers respectively.
Among those settlements was a contract for about 40 workers employed by the Stettler & District Ambulance Association.
The workers in this collective agreement are all employed as either advanced care paramedics, primary care paramedics, and emergency medical responders. The latter weren’t listed in the previous agreement.
They’re represented by the Health Sciences Association of Alberta.
The previous contract for these workers expired in March 2023. The new contract was settled in November 2024, more than 1.5 years later; although Mediation Services only recently received their copy.
The workers are set to receive a 2% wage increase in the first year of their new 3-year collective agreement. After that, it’s up in the air.
This new agreement has a so-called “me too” clause, which gives them increases if HSAA manages to negotiate increases in their collective agreement with Alberta Health Services.
They had a similar clause in their previous agreement, but it gave them wage freezes in 2019 and 2020, 1% in 2021, and 1.25% in 2022, which is far less than the 16.43% inflation Alberta saw during the same period.
These workers should be getting at least a 12% bump in pay for teir 2024 increase just to make up lost wages due to inflation. And that’s not even accounting for inflation between April 2023 and April 2024. Plus, of course, we still have inflation this year and next year to account for in additional increases.
Here are some changes between the the new collective agreement and their previous one.
The following has been added to the “temporary employee” definition:
Temporary positions may be extended by mutual agreement between the employer and the union. Extension requests shall be submitted to the union in writing 30 days prior to expiry, such agreement shall not be unreasonably withheld.
Under the previous contract, according to the section on defintions, “shift” meant the 12-hour period consisting of core hours and flex hours. This definition still exists in the new contract, but it also adds “and the 12-hour period consisting of on-call duty for a core flex schedule or 12 hours worked in an assembled schedule”.
As well, the “active duty” definition has been extended to include “a shift of 12 consecutive hours without flex hours or on-call hours”.
The “tour of duty” definition has been changed from “the twenty-four hour period comprised of core hours, flex hours, and on-call duty” to “the period of 4 regularly scheduled consecutive shifts”.
“Local unit committee” has been removed from the definition list, and the following new definition has been added to the list:
“Assembled” shall mean consecutive hours on shift on “active duty” with no on-call or core/flex.
The hours of work section has changed significantly, as the organization moves to new scheduling model.
Previous
Regular paid hours of work for ambulance Employees shall be:
- Scheduled on the basis of 4 Tours of Duty followed by 4 days off (on a core/flex/on-call basis).
- “Core Hours” means the period of 2 hours during each Shift (including weekends and statutory holidays) where an Employee is required to be assembled at the ambulance station. Employees scheduled for a Tour of Duty will serve a 12-hour Shift, including the Core Hours and Flex Hours as defined in this Collective Agreement. Employees will be paid their basic rate of pay for the 12-hour Shift to an annual maximum of 2190 hours.
- Annual hours of work for Full-time Employees will be 2190 hours paid at the Basic Rate of Pay.
- Employees will serve On-Call Duty tor the remainder of the Tour of Duty. Employees will be paid their On-Call Rate during those hours.
- Any change in Core Hours shall require 30 days’ notice unless mutually agreed to between the Employer and the Employee.
New
Regular paid hours of work for ambulance Employees shall be either a:
- Core Flex Shift
- Employees shall work a 24-hour Shift consisting of a minimum 2 core hours, 10 flex hours, and 12 on-call hours, with the Employee being available for immediate response from within the community during core, flex and on-call hours. An Employee shall be compensated for 12 hours at their basic rate of pay plus 12 hours on-call.
- Employees will be paid their basic rate of pay for the 12-hour Shift to an annual maximum of 2190 hours and the weekly average of 42 hours per week.
- Scheduled on the basis of 4 Shifts followed by 4 days off.
- Any change in Core Hours shall require 30 days’ notice unless mutually agreed to between the Employer and the Employee.
- 12-hour “Assembled” Shift
- Annual hours of work for Full-time Employees will be 2190 hours paid at the Basic Rate of Pay and the weekly average of 42 hours per week.
- Scheduled on the basis of 4 Shifts followed by 4 days off.
- No tour of duty shall exceed more than 48 hours of worked time in total (excluding overtime).
The active duty premium of $4.25 an hour has been removed from the contract. This was paid to workers who were on shift between 19:00 and 07:00. It’s been replaced by 2 shift differentials.
The evening shift differential is $2.75 an hour and is paid out for hours worked between 15:00 and 23:00. The night shift differential is $5.00 an hour and applies to hours worked after 23:00 and before 07:00.
If HSAA members negotiating with AHS get a better shift differential in their new contract, these workers will get differentials that match.
The following has been added to the article on shift scheduling:
In the event that an Employee is required by the Employer to change platoons, time balancing will be required ensuring that the prescribed number of hours for the calendar year is achieved.
Banked overtime is now maxed out at 48 hours. There was no limit mentioned in the previous agreement. Overtime will be banked as 2 hours of lieu time but paid out at their base pay rate.
The following clause has been removed from the article on overtime:
Casual Employees shall be paid overtime when required by the Employer to work
- More than 48 hours of Active Duty in one Week; or
- More than 12 hours of Active Duty in one Shift.
This, too, has been added to the overtime article:
A request for more than 8 consecutive hours of rest shall not be unreasonably denied provided a discussion with a Supervisor has occurred.
In the article on promotions, the following was added:
Where an Employee transfers from a casual position to a Full-Time position of the same classification, the Employee shall receive an annual increment at the completion of 2190 hours of work since the last increment as a casual Employee, or from the Employee’s start date as a casual Employee if they have not received an increment. For the purpose of further increments, the Employer’s anniversary date shall be set as the date they receive the aforementioned increment.
Acting supervisor pay has increased from $35 per shift to $42 per shift.
Vacation time has been adjusted from days to hours:
| Length of employment | Previous | New |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 years | 12 days | 144 hours |
| 3–7 years | 16 days | 192 hours |
| 8–14 years | 20 days | 240 hours |
| 15–25 years | 24 days | 288 hours |
Under the previous contract, vacation time maxed out once workers hit 15 years. Now, workers receive an additional 48 hours of vacation time once they hit 25 years of employment and with every subsequent 5 years with the employer.
Vacation time accrued in one year is to be taken during the subsequent vacation year, according to the new collective agreement; although, like in the previous agreement, workers can request the ability to carry forward vacation time.
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation has been added to the list of named holidays, which are used to determine stat holiday pay. The list increases from 11 named holidays to 12.
New to the collective agreement is workers automatically receive 216 hours credit for sick leave. Previously, it was just 18 hours per month of employment, which is still in place. The maximum sick leave is also still 1440 hours.
The following was added to the article on worker’s compensation:
An Employee in receipt of Workers’ Compensation benefits shall:
- be deemed to remain in the continuous service of the Employer for purposes of prepaid health benefits and salary increments;
- accrue vacation credits and sick leave for the first (1st) month of such absence.
The health spending account for casual workers has been renamed a flexible spending account.
The flexible spending account for full-time workers has been increased from $2750 per year to $3250 per year.
Workers will now be eligible for a minimum of $1,000 in psychological support provided by psychologists, social workers, or counsellors.
The boot allowance increased from $200 to $300. As well, the employer will provide each worker with a duty summer jacket, something that wasn’t in the previous agreement.
This clause was removed from the contract:
Where the Employer requires that the Employee receive specific immunization and titer, as a result of or related to their work, it shall be provided at no cost.
Under the previous contract, workers were entitled to a meal allowance of $15 per meal, up to a maximum of $45 per day. That has been adjusted so that the amount depend on the amount of travel time or time on standy.
| 5–6 hours | 1 meal ($15) |
| 6–10 hours | 2 meals ($30) |
| 10+ hours | 3 meals ($45) |
A travel allowance for casual workers has been added to the contract. They will be $55 if they have to travel over 200 kilometres round trip for work. It’s limited to one claim per tour.
