For immediate release: Mar. 14, 2003

SHERWOOD PARK – Members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees employed by the County of Strathcona have ratified a new three-year collective agreement that gives them pay increases of 3.5 per cent in the first year, four per cent in the second year and a wage re-opener in the third year.

"This is a good agreement that also contains market adjustments which will give about a third of these employees pay increases above the base percentage raises in the contract," said AUPE President Dan MacLennan
The members of AUPE Local 118/009 ratified the agreement Thursday night in voting in Sherwood Park on Edmonton’s eastern border.

AUPE Union Representative Maria Marrazzo, who negotiated the agreement, said the County of Strathcona employees were pleased by the improvements to their contract included in the settlement. "This was already a good contract and this deal makes it better."

Marrazzo said the agreement also includes an increase in weekend and night shift differential pay to $1 from 75 cents and an improvement in the mechanics’ tool allowance to $350 from $300.

In addition, she said, the agreement includes improvements to overtime pay provisions and to contract language dealing with compassionate leave.

AUPE represents about 100 municipal outdoor workers, mechanics, electricians, sanitation employees and others employed by the county in Sherwood Park and surrounding areas.

A wage re-opener is a provision that allows wages to be renegotiated in the third year of the collective agreement while all other contract provisions remain in effect.

For more information, contact:
Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-910-8392 (cellular phone)
Maria Marrazzo, Union Representative, AUPE, 780-930-3348 or 780-914-2820 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)