Mediator gives Wood’s Homes workers 2% raise

While browsing through the collective bargaining agreement database on the Government of Alberta website, I noticed a new contract for Calgary non-profit workers.

These workers are employed by Wood’s Homes throughout Alberta. They work in a wide variety of positions, including as clinicians, counsellors, kitchen staff, foster care support workers, nurses, administrative support, caretaking and maintenance, technology support, transportation, and communications.

Wood’s Homes provides treatment and support for children, young people, adults, and families with mental health needs. They have locations in Calgary, Cold Lake, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, Lac La Biche, Lethbridge, and Strathmore.

These 400 or so workers are represented by Local 4731 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees and their previous contract over a year ago, in September 2023.

They settled on a new 3-year contract on 4 September 2024, which was backdated to 1 October 2023. That means most of the first year of the contract had already passed by the time it was ratified.

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 tiny pay increases.

1 April 2024	0.50%
1 October 2024	0.50%
1 October 2025	1.00%

This works out to a combined 2%. That works out to an average of 0.67% per year.

That’s pathetic. On top of that, this was a mediated contract, which means that Wood’s Homes original offer would have been worse than that, which doesn’t surprise me.

Take a look at their raises over the last decade.

1 October 2014	2.00%
1 October 2015	2.00%
1 October 2016	0.00%
1 October 2017	0.00%
1 October 2018*	1.50%
1 October 2019	1.00%
1 October 2020	0.00%
1 October 2021	0.00%
1 October 2022	0.50%
1 April 2023	0.50%

That’s a combined 7.5% over 10 years. But 4 years of wage freezes and two increases of under 1% is going to bring down the annual average, which was just 0.75%.

If you take out the two 2% increases at the start of the decade, the annual average drops to just 0.44%.

I probably don’t even need to tell you that 0.44%—or even 0.75%—is below the rate of inflation, but I’m going to anyhow.

Between October 2013 and October 2023, the consumer price index in Alberta increased from 129.3 to 165.2. That’s a jump of 35.9 points, or 27.76%.

So, while these workers were getting only 7.5% more in wages over the last decade, the cost of living increased by nearly four times that amount, leaving them with a cut to real wages—wages adjusted for inflation—of 22.26%.

That means that for every $1000 these workers received in October 2013, they were getting only $777.40 last October, when you account for raises and inflation.

In other words, for every $1000 they spent on goods and services in October 2013, they were able to afford only $777.40 worth 10 years later. Either that, or they’d have to spend $1222.60 to buy the same stuff.

There is no way this tiny raise proposed by the mediator will be enough for these workers to get caught up on lost wages over the last decade, let alone cover inflation over the next 3 years.

Oh, and some of these workers were still making under $20 an hour when the last contract expired. Field support staff in the transportation department, for example, were making just $15.20 an hour.

The new collective agreement will expire in September 2026.

Update (5 November 2024): In an email to The Alberta Worker, a representative claimed the following:

We give our staff a 5% annual wage increase; increased the wages of our residential program staff by 4% in Lethbridge and 4–8% in Calgary across multiple programs; made a lump-sum payment to staff who are at the top of their band to increase their compensation; and provide staff with a 2% service recognition payment on an annual basis