Stagnant wage trend continues with more union deals

By Medicine Hat News on August 21, 2020.

Two more recent public sector union contracts in the Medicine Hat area show little in the way of higher wages over the next few years.

Early this week the largest unionized bargaining unit within the City of Medicine Hat agreed to a two-year wage freeze as part of a three-year contract.

Newly advertised settlements at the Town of Redcliff and a housing initiative in Medicine Hat show similar agreements on wages.

In Redcliff, 50 unionized members of the civic workforce voted to accept a freeze in 2020 and only a cumulative 3.75 per cent raise over the final three-years of a four-year contract.

Employees of the Medicine Hat Community Housing Society agreed to a four-year contract that included no wage provision before it expires in late 2023.

Those settlements appear in the most recent bargaining update provided by the Ministry of Labour and Immigration.

All three groups of workers are represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local No. 46.

Local president Jim Hall told the News this week that considering economic conditions his workers were generally accepting of the offers that provided stability rather than higher wages.

The housing society has 40 unionized workers.

In Redcliff, town workers will receive no wage increase for the 2020 contract year before adjustments of 1, 1.25 and 1.5 per cent in subsequent years, respectively.

Last week, Medicine Hat’s inside, outside and transit workers voted in favour of a three-year contract that only provides a general raise of 2 per cent in the final year, 2022.

CUPE also represents employees with the Cypress View Foundation and the Medicine Hat Public Library.

Other settlements of note this spring elsewhere in the province include a 1.5 per cent total increase over three years for 3,100 transit workers in Calgary. Also, 2,200 police officers in that city will receive a one-year wage freeze as part of a three-year deal that provides 3 per cent raise in total.

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