City strikes four-year deal with its power, water and line workers
By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on October 7, 2021.
https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews The city and unionized power plant, water plant and line workers have ratified a mediated settlement following a vote at city council Monday. The four-year agreement provides a combined 6.1 per cent wage increase by its expiration at the end of 2023. Workers with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local No. 254, had been without a contract since the end of 2019. Coun. Robert Dumanowski told council when the item was introduced that a number of bargaining sessions took place ahead and during the pandemic, but in May 2021, the union applied for mediation. The contract involves two bargaining units, including plant and line workers. It provinces for a general wage increase “including potential adjustments for 2021 and 2022 based on changes to the Alberta Consumer Price Index” of 1.1 per cent retroactive for 2020, 1 per cent effective last January 1, and 2 per cent increases at the start of 2022 and 2023, respectively. “This was long, complicated round of bargaining,” said city manager Bob Nicolay in a statement. “We were able to work with IBEW to find an outcome that is mutually acceptable considering the general economic conditions in Alberta, providing certainty for the city, the union and our employees during very uncertain times.” The settlement involves the second of four contracts the city has with its unionized workforce. The largest unit – inside, outside and transit workers represented by CUPE No. 46 – agreed to a three-year deal in the spring of 2020 that included an initial two-year wage freeze. The city’s contract with the Medicine Hat Police Association expired at the end of 2021. The International Association of Fire Fighters, Local No. 263, has been in contract talks with the city since the end of 2018, but sources tell the News that talks have been ongoing but hampered during the pandemic, and that only two major issues remain in those discussions. 13-12
