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EDMONTON — A new contract has been reached between some 23,000 civil servants and the Alberta government, averting a strike that could’ve happened as soon as next week.
The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees says the mediator-recommended deal passed with 63 per cent of voting members in favour and 36.5 per cent opposed.
In a release Wednesday, the union said 71 per cent of eligible members voted.
The affected employees include administrative workers, some Alberta Sheriffs, social workers and provincial wildfire fighters.
The approved contract stemmed from a last-ditch mediated bargaining effort last month between the union and the province, and includes a 12 per cent wage increase over four years.
The new contract will also see any roles currently paid below Alberta’s living wage of $22.65 have their base salary increased to that level, and those who reach 20 years of service during the life of the contract will get an automatic two per cent pay bump.
It will also see the province and union administer a new $11.4-million annual fund for recruitment and retention initiatives, with four per cent increases to the fund guaranteed every year.
The union, in its release Wednesday, said it had been a difficult bargaining process and that it respects the members’ decision to accept the deal.
“This has been a difficult process, and members had to weigh tough choices,” said union president Guy Smith, who’s scheduled to speak Thursday about the contract.
Finance Minister Nate Horner said he was pleased to see the offer be accepted and thanked the union’s bargaining team for its role in getting a deal done, though he too acknowledged it was a long process.
“The agreement balances competitive compensation with long-term stability for both employees and the public service,” he said.
Union members voted 90 per cent in favour of strike action back in May after a government offer with the same pay increase was resoundingly rejected.
That strike vote was set to expire next week, and the union had said that if the deal had been rejected, its members would’ve hit the picket line.
While the union’s second biggest sector reached a deal Wednesday, it also received a lockout notice for a separate, much smaller group of workers for the town of Coaldale, about 225 kilometres south of Calgary.
The union said the town’s lockout is scheduled to take effect on Saturday and picket lines will be erected shortly afterwards if that remains the case.
The town employees represented by the union, who number fewer than 50, had voted 83 per cent in favour of striking on Tuesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 3, 2025.
Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press
