AUPE online certification drive leads to first contract

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on June 4, 2022.

https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews

The first workplace in Alberta unionized in an entirely online certification drive now has a first contract in place.

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees and workers at Masterpiece – Southlands Meadows seniors living facility filed to the Alberta Labour board in 2020 after processing forms and witnessing signatures online during the pandemic.

That required a precedent-setting ruling about the validity of the unique process.

The May 2022 edition of the provincial labour ministry’s collective bargaining update shows a new 36-month contract between management and 77 licensed practical nurses and health-care aides has been ratified.

The deal provides no wage increase for the first year (comprising most of 2021), but raises between 1 and 1.25 per cent in each of the final two years of the contract. It expires in March 2024.

In another settlements of regional note, employees at Taber trucking firm AmLog have a five-year deal that boosts wages by 12.5 per cent by the end of 2026. That is the first contract negotiated by the Teamsters No. 987 for 26 employees.

In public sector and utilities, almost 7,000 Enmax workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, No. 8, agreed to a three-year deal that includes a 2.5 per cent raise.

The Special Areas Board secured a four-year wage rate freeze with 250 workers represented AUPE, though the deal provides a $1,250 lump sum payment in year four, then a 2.75 per cent raise in the final year of 2024.

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