Earlier this month, the Mediation Services department of Alberta Jobs, Economy, and Trade published their April 2024 Bargaining Update, which includes details on recently settled collective agreements.
One of the agreements was between the Local 401 of the United Food and Commercial Workers and Vision Loss Rehabilitation Alberta.
Local 401 represents about two dozen workers throughout Alberta employed by Vision Loss Rehabilitation, a not-for-profit national healthcare organization and the leading provider of rehabilitation therapy and healthcare services for individuals with vision loss.
These workers include drivers, administrative assistants, vision rehabilitation therapists, assistive technology assistants, certified low vision therapists, certified vision rehabilitation therapists, certified assistive technology instructional specialists, and certified orientation and mobility specialists.
Their previous contract, which was their first contract with their employer, expired nearly two years ago, in June 2022. Their new contract was settled just last month.
Mediation Services doesn’t provide much detail on newly settled contracts, so I can’t compare much between this new contract and the previous contract. However, they have published details on wage increases.
These workers will receive a 2.5% raise in the first year of the contract, retroactive to 5 June 2022, followed by a 2.75% increase retroactive to 5 June 2023. Finally, in the last year of the 3-year contract, they will receive a 3% increase, effective next week, on 5 June.
That’s a combined 8.25% increase over the life of the contract, which works out to 2.75% per year, on average.
Because this contract will expire next June, the bargaining team will have little time off before needing to begin the bargaining process on the next contract.
These workers unionized in November 2018 and settled their first contract in just 7 months.
A division of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Vision Loss Rehabilitation Alberta is funded by the Government of Alberta and by donors.
