While browsing through the collective bargaining agreement database on the Government of Alberta website, I noticed a new contract for care workers.
These workers are employed by Taber & District Housing at their Clearview Lodge location, which is a 77-unit supportive living facility for seniors. They include health care aides, kitchen staff, housekeepers, and activity coordinators.
These 40 or so workers are represented by Local 2038 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees and their previous contract had expired in May 2023.
They settled on a new 3-year contract just last month, nearly a year and a half later.
And what did they get in this contract? Well, Mediation Services hasn’t received the entire contract yet, so I can’t provide a comprehensive comparison between the two contracts. However, they did include pay increases.
| 1 June 2023 | 2.50% |
| 1 June 2024 | 3.00% |
| 1 June 2025 | 3.00% |
That’s a combined 8.5%, or 8.74% if you account for compounding increases. That works out to an average of 2.83% (2.91%) per year.
Here’s what their raises looked like in their last contract.
| 1 June 2019 | 2.00% |
| 1 June 2020 | 2.00% |
| 1 June 2021 | 2.00% |
| 1 June 2022 | 2.50% |
That’s a combined 8.5% over 4 years, with an annual average of 2.13%, lower than the annual average in the new contract.
But just because the the raises are better doesn’t mean the raises are good.
Between June 2018 and June 2023, the consumer price index in Alberta increased from 140.7 to 164.4. That’s a jump of 23.7 points, or 16.84%.
So, inflation during the last contract increased by nearly double that of the rate of increase for the wages of these workers.
That left these workers with a cut in real wages—wages adjusted for inflation—of 8.34% going into the new agreement.
This means that the new increase of 8.5% (8.74%) will barely be enough to cover the loss in real wages, leaving only a fraction of a percent for the inflation that occurred last year, has occurred this year, and will occur next year.
For example, inflation between the start of the new contract—June 2023—and last month was already 2.92%, and that’s not even halfway through the contract.
So, the workers will be going into their next round of bargaining already behind inflation again.
It sucks to have to play catch up with every contract. It’d be great if these employers would start planning for future inflation rather than continue catching up from underestimated past inflation. Because it’s tough trying to afford cost of living increases when your wages don’t keep up with those increases.
The new collective agreement will expire in May 2026.
