Back in November, the Mediation Services department of Alberta Jobs, Economy, and Trade published the September–October 2024 Bargaining Update.
This monthly report provides information about the unionized workforce, primarily in Alberta. In the months of September and October, Mediation Services received settlement information regarding 36 private sector and 31 public sector bargaining settlements, covering 3,408 and 4,855 workers respectively.
Among those settlements was a contract for just under 200 workers employed by Suncor Energy.
These workers are represented by Local 707A of Unifor and work out of Suncor’s Firebag site, where they produce around 215,000 barrels of bitumen through about 600 steam-assisted wells.
The new collective agreement covers all workers at Firebag except office staff, messenger-drivers, loss management staff, survey crew, and those employed in a confidential capacity in matters relating to labour relations.
Their previous contract actually expired in May 2023, a year and a half ago. The new contract was settled back in February, 9 months later, but Mediation Services received it only recently.
These workers will get wage increases in each year of their new 3-year contract.
| 1 February 2023 | 5.00% |
| 1 February 2024 | 3.50% |
| 1 February 2025 | 3.50% |
This works out to a combined wage of 12% over the full 3 years, or 12.48% if you account for compounding increases. That averages out to 4% (4.16%) per year.
Here are some highlights of other changes between the new contract and their previous contract.
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation has been added to the list of holidays that qualify for statutory holiday pay, bringing the total to 10.
Under the previous contract, some workers had access to a floating holiday, which they could use on a day different from the scheduled date, such as for religious observance. This clause doesn’t appear in the new contract.
Also, language has been edited throughout the document to make it more gender inclusive (for example, change his or him to their or them).
