Long-term care workers in Calgary will receive a 5.61% raise

Last month, the Alberta Jobs, Economy and Trade Collective Bargaining Information Services Department released the March 2024 Bargaining Update, which includes information on recent collective agreements.

One such agreement was between AgeCare Seton and the health care aides, recreation aides, physical therapy aides and licensed practical nurses who work for them.

AgeCare Seton is a 311-bed healthcare facility in southeast Calgary that provides long-term care, assisted living, dementia and memory care, and senior day programming.

This privately held, for-profit corporation has more than 30 facilities in 16 communities in Alberta and British Columbia.

More than 300 workers will be covered by the new collective agreement. A majority of workers at AgeCare Seton voted in favor of joining the Alberta Public Employees Union in April 2021, and this is their first contract with an employer since joining a union.

Negotiations for this contract began in August 2021, more than 2.5 years ago. After the employer dragged its feet for months, the talks finally went to mediation in December 2022, followed by enhanced mediation the following month.

More than a year after negotiations entered mediation, the workers reached a tentative agreement that could be voted on, and the majority of workers who voted chose to accept the agreement.

The contract renewal only includes salary increases, so I cannot report on other features of the new contract, such as benefits, holidays and working conditions.

The new 4-year contract runs until April 2021 and expires at the end of this year. It includes a total salary increase of 5.5% or 5.61% compounding increase.

Here's how it breaks down by year:

April 27, 2021	1.0%
January 1, 2022	1.0%
January 1, 2023	1.5%
January 1, 2024	2.0%

5.61% may sound like a decent salary increase, but we need to put this increase in context.

In April 2020, Alberta's consumer price index was 143.0, but in January 2024, the month of their last wage increase, it rose to 165.9.

This is an increase of 22.9 or 16.01%.

So inflation nearly tripled during the time these workers received a 5.61% raise. And that means that these workers are worse off in terms of their real wages, which means wages tied to inflation.

With inflation at 16.01% over the last 4 years, this 5.61% increase in wages will effectively result in a 10.4% reduction in wages. In other words, even after all 4 raises, these workers will earn $896 for every $1,000 they earn in 2020.

In other words, what they were paying $100 in 2020 is now worth $110.40 with salary increases.

With this contract expiring at the end of the year, workers will barely have a break after nearly 3 years of negotiations before the bargaining team resumes work on the next contract.