Redcliff Library workers make four-year collective agreement official
By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on November 8, 2023.
https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews Workers at the Redcliff Library have endorsed their first collective agreement. The seven employees and the Redcliff Library Board came to terms in June after the workplace was certified last year by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local No. 46. The four-year contract provides raises of 2 per cent in each of the first two years, then 1.5 per cent increases in each of the remaining two years of the pact that expires at the end of 2026. CUPE 46 also represents employees at the Town of Redcliff, the Medicine Hat Public Library, the City of Medicine Hat (inside outside and transit workers), the Cypressview Foundation and the Medicine Hat Community Housing Society. EI rate in flux The unemployment rate in rural southern Alberta rose in October to 4.9 per cent compared to very low figures one year ago, but fell compared to earlier this fall. Statistics Canada reported Nov. 5 that the province-wide jobless rate sat at 5.5 per cent, just less than the national average of 5.6 per cent. Regional analysis now available states the Lethbridge-Medicine Hat region posted the second lowest rate in the province at 4.9 per cent, but at 1.5 percentage points higher than October 2022. It is lower than the 6.0 per cent recorded in the recent September report. Red Deer (7.4 per cent) posted the highest regional rate in Alberta while Camrose-Drumheller (3.3) was the lowest. Major centres of Calgary and Edmonton posted rates of 5.5 and 5.6 per cent, respectively. 12-11
