Labouring Over Post-Labour Day Labour Updates
The leaves are slowly turning yellow. The morning air brings a crisp sensation to your breath. Children are heading back to the classroom (at least for now). Municipal candidates are ramping up their campaigns for an October 20th election date. And Alberta’s MLAs are just one-and-a-half months from returning to the Legislature.
Autumn is officially on our doorstep.
The speculation surrounding the upcoming fall sittings seems to suggest that Premier Danielle Smith and the UCP Government will kick off a brand-new session with a speech from the throne. If this is indeed the case, all outstanding business on the Order Paper will be “killed” with MLAs starting with a completely blank slate. If there is anything that is currently on the order paper that MLAs wish to continue debating, it will need to be reintroduced from the first steps.
This would not be surprising as the only throne speech that has occurred since the last election was read when this current term began.
But speaking of ‘fresh starts’, we wanted to spend some time in this issue of The NEWS talking about two of the major labour dispute updates in our province. We will dive into two very different tales – one of a new collective bargaining agreement and the other that finds itself in a dissimilar position.
A New Agreement for AUPE
On September 3rd, members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees cast their vote on a tentative agreement that ultimately resulted in the ratification of a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the Government of Alberta. The new CBA passed with 63.5 per cent of members who voted in support. Approximately 71 per cent of the eligible membership cast a vote.
This means that about 23,000 public sector employees will not be commencing strike action, nor will the Government of Alberta lockout employees. Staff impacted by the new agreement include administrative professionals (including judicial clerks and other courthouse staff), correctional staff, social workers, some Sheriffs, and wildfire fighters.
For much time, many Albertans were bracing themselves for a potentially different outcome in this labour dispute. This past May, AUPE brought a strike action vote to its membership as it related to this round of bargaining. It passed with 90 per cent support following the rejection of the government’s offer at the time.
As the expiration of that strike vote was set for this week, a strike or lockout were very narrowly avoided.
The new agreement will expire at the end of March 2028.
As part of the deal, provincial employees will see a 12 per cent increase over the next four years (3 per cent per year) along with some other increases (such as bumping up all base salaries that fall below Alberta’s living wage of $22.65 to that level). The retroactive portions of the agreement are to be paid out to members within 90 days of ratification.
An Update on Teacher Bargaining as the School Year Begins
Although AUPE is entering the fall with a new deal, many questions remain about the ongoing negotiations between Alberta’s teachers and the province. The school year is fully underway, but many are wondering if there will be labour disruption in the near future.
Like AUPE, members of the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action with 94.5 per cent of votes in support. The Teachers’ Employer Bargaining Association (TEBA) has also voted in favour of a lockout mandate. Both votes are a normal part of the labour negotiation process to allow the union and the employer to respond quickly to a dispute, if needed.
As families across the province would be significantly impacted by either a strike or a lockout, it is not surprising that this round of negotiations is gaining significant traction in the news cycle.
Tensions have been rising in public statements between the two sides in recent weeks. Over the weekend, ATA president Jason Schilling told media that there have been no discussions since late-August.
In an interview with CTV News, Schilling indicated that, “teachers are looking for (a) fair compensation for the fact that they’ve only received a 5.75 per cent increase in the last 10 years. Inflation and other costs of life measures have gone up greatly since then, so teachers are looking for a salary that will make up for a loss of inflation, keep up with current inflation, but also reflect the increasing workload that they’re seeing in their classrooms.”
In other media interviews, Schilling has also pointed to how Alberta’s consumer price index has risen by about 17 per cent over the same period.
On Friday, Finance Minister Nate Horner issued a statement regarding the ongoing negotiations, airing a few details about what the government indicates was included in their offer.
“On August 26, Teachers’ Employer Bargaining Association (TEBA) proposed a settlement that agreed to provide the hiring commitment requested by the ATA - hiring 3,000 new teachers over the course of the three school years of the agreement. TEBA’s proposal additionally included a similar compensation offer that was previously recommended by the ATA to their members.”
The same release also included details that the offer featured the same 12 per cent increase over four years that the AUPE membership accepted last week.
Minister Horner’s statement also says “TEBA remains ready to return to the table to secure a fair agreement.” In response, Schilling told media that "the last time I checked, phones work both ways," Schilling said. "If government is interested in sitting down, and they say that they respect and value the work that teachers do, they also can pick up the phone and give us a call to say, 'Hey, let's have a conversation.'”
The strike vote from the ATA membership is valid until October 7, 2025.
Bonus Update - HSAA Tentative Agreement Ratification Vote Ends This Week
Another major bargaining process is underway in the province as the members of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta are nearly done the voting period to ratify their tentative agreement. As was offered to AUPE and the ATA, HSAA members were offered a 12% increase over the next four years along with additional market adjustments for specific job classifications. There were also additional benefits such as professional fee reimbursement and increased premiums for on-call, preceptor, and long-service pay.
While the union has brought forward the tentative agreement to its membership for consideration, it did not come with a glowing endorsement. In the union’s update to members on August 14th, it is said that “your Bargaining Committee and Board of Directors agree this is the most that can be obtained through formal mediation. The final decision on whether to ratify the agreement is up to you.”
The ratification voting period for HSAA members concludes on September 10th. According to the HSAA website, a strike vote cannot occur for at least 14 days following the failure of mediation (this also applies to the employer conducting a lockout vote).
