Last month, Alberta Mediation Services published their May 2026 Bargaining Update.
The monthly report provides information about the unionized workforce, primarily in Alberta.
Information published in this month’s report is based on the details from 27 collective bargaining agreements they received in May. Those agreements collectively covered nearly 4,000 workers, most of which were in the public sector.
The private sector submitted 14 collective agreements for over 1,500 workers, and the public sector submitted 13 agreements for more than 2,400 workers.
One of the public sector agreements was for workers in Edmonton.
Settled on 20 May 2026, the new agreement is between WIN House, a division of Edmonton Women’s Shelter Ltd., and Local 3341 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents about 55 workers who operate the organization’s 3 shelters.
Local 3341 represents all WIN House workers except executive assistants, human resource and finance workers, the executive director, the director of shelter operations, shelter managers, and fund development workers.
These workers—which include crisis intervention workers, cooks, family support workers, housekeepers, data analysts, outreach workers, office coordinators, donations data specialists, and maintenance workers—had been working on an old contract that had expired in September 2025.
According to the May 2026 Bargaining Update, these workers will receive a total increase of 3% over the 2-year term of their contract. Here’s how it breaks down per year.
1 October 20263.00%1 October 20270.00%3.00%
That is better than what they got in their previous agreement, which was wage freezes for 3 years.
Between their last wage increase (October 2021) and this new contract (October 2025), inflation in Alberta increased by 14.32%.
Suffice it to say that a 3% wage increase over 2 years will be insufficient to make up real wage loss of over 14% over the last 4 years, especially when we factor in two more years of inflation over the course of this new contract.
Here are some other changes between the previous agreement and the new agreement.
Workers who arrive to work but end up sent home will be paid a minimum of 3 hours at their base rate of pay. This was not in the previous agreement.
The following clause was added to the agreement:
When the employer needs to assign an employee to another building (house), the decision shall be made through a fair process. Seniority shall be considered, provided the employee is fully qualified to perform the work. The employer may seek volunteers where practical. Decisions shall not be arbitrary or discriminatory.
In the previous agreement, crisis intervention workers were paid for overtime if they workers more than 11 hours in a day or averaged more than 38.5 hours per week. The 11 hours per day still stands in the new agreement, but the weekly average has been increased to 44 hours.
the following article was removed from the collective agreement:
18.03 Overtime does not apply where flex time has been agreed upon.
Casual Employees
Unless otherwise agreed to between the union and the employer, overtime premium shall be paid for all hours worked in excess of:
44 hours per week
Workers who are scheduled for 11-hour shifts will now accumulate 11 hours of sick pay per month. Under the previous collective agreement, it was 10 hours a month, same as everyone else.
The new agreement will expire in September of next year.
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