Municipal employee raises in line with other regions: Ministry of Jobs
By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on August 2, 2023.
https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews Raises for municipal employees and police officers in Medicine Hat agreed to this winter are generally in line with other contract settlements in the province, according to new data from the Alberta Ministry of Jobs. In April, the City of Medicine Hat’s main bargaining unit, represented by Canadian Union of Public Employees, No. 46, signed on to a four-year deal to saw an immediate $1.55 per hour pay bump for about 800 unionized inside, outside and transit staff. Raises of 2.5, 2.25 and 2 per cent follow in subsequent years. At the same time, CUPE workers at the City of Fort Saskatchewan settled a four-year deal with inter-year increases of mainly 2 per cent, and Lethbridge County employees got 8 per cent over four years. In May, the City of Calgary settled a three-year deal with 2,600 civic workers including raises of 5 per cent by the end of 2023. Workers in Strathcona County (Sherwood Park) earned 1 per cent lump sum payments in each of two initial years then 1 and 1.5 per cent to conclude a four-year pact. They are represented by the Alberta Union of Public Employees. Among police contracts, the 1,900 members of the Edmonton Police Association will see total raises of seven per cent to bring its three-year out of date contract up to date. Medicine Hat police officers will see their wages go up by 10 per cent in a four-year deal that ends in late 2024. It was ratified in February. The largest contracts decided in June were for sheet metal workers employed in the Alberta Construction Labour Association system. A two-year agreement with various employers sees rates rise by 7.9 per cent each year. In Medicine Hat, 108 workers at the River Ridge Seniors Village also won raises in a deal ratified earlier this year, but published in the June survey of bargaining. The workers, represented by the United Steelworkers will see increases of 1.2 per cent in each of the first three years of a four-year deal and 2.2 per cent in the final year leading up to March 2026. Another local deal settled late in 2022 will see workers at the Medicine Hat News pay increase by about 4 per cent on average in a grid reorganization to start a new three-year contract. Members of the Media and Communication Workers of Alberta will also earn an additional 2.25 per cent in each of the final two years of the deal. Wages had previously been frozen in 2021. 15-14
