AUPE members ratify collective agreement with government of Alberta
EDMONTON – Members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees who work directly for the provincial government ratified a three-year collective agreement containing pay increases adding up to 10.2 per cent in ballots counted today.
Almost 60 per cent of the more than 20,000 direct government employees eligible to vote mailed in ratification ballots, with a majority voting in favour of the agreement.
“This is a good collective agreement that contains several improvements for our members,” said AUPE President Dan MacLennan, who is chair of the union’s General Services Bargaining Committee (GSBC). “Clearly the membership agreed.”
A record number of ballots mailed in by the members of AUPE Locals 001 to 012 were counted by the members of the GSBC throughout the morning and early afternoon today, said Jim Petrie, AUPE Staff Negotiator for the GSBC.
The tentative agreement was signed early in the morning of May 11 after more than 22 hours of continuous bargaining, and more than 35 days of negotiation before that.
The three-year agreement includes across-the-board pay increases of 3.9 per cent in the first year, retroactive to Sept. 1, 2004, 3 per cent in the second year and 3 percent in the third year. With the first two years’ percentage increases accounted for in the calculation, it brings the total compounded pay increase over the life of the contract to 10.2 per cent.
In addition to the across-the-board pay increases, the tentative agreement includes adjustments to specific classifications that will result in larger percentage pay increases for approximately seven per cent of the employees and significant improvements in employee benefits for all members.
The GSBC had recommended ratification of the agreement.
Other key improvements in the agreement include:
- Inclusion of massage therapists and acupuncturists on the list of covered paramedical services, plus higher rates of coverage.
- Significant improvement in dental benefits.
- Extension of the definition of dental benefit partners to include same-sex partners.
- Pay grade improvements for approximately seven per cent of employees in the first year for several job classifications.
- An increase in the Northern Allowance, for which Fort McMurray residents are eligible, to $525 per month from $400.
- An increase in available long-term disability insurance rates.
- An increase in employer-provided life insurance coverage.
- Reduction by a year in the time required for members to receive their long-service increment.
- Extension of special-leave provisions to all for use in disaster circumstances such as flooding of homes.
- Agreement to pay or continue paying professional fees for employees who are required to maintain professional status as a condition of employment.
- Improvements in eye examination coverage.
The AUPE and government bargaining teams began formal negotiations on Nov. 16, 2004.
For more information, contact:
Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-232-8392 (cellular phone)
Jim Petrie, Union Representative, AUPE, 780-930-3335 or 780-919-4415 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)