EDMONTON – The City of Edmonton will be negotiating with all the unions representing city employees in 2014.
“These contracts renew on a regular basis – they’re not open ended,” explained Mayor Don Iveson. “So, we do have to deal with this every year or two or three, depending on the length of the contract.”
Edmonton firefighters are currently in arbitration after their contracts expired. Several other unions have contracts expiring at the end of this year.
READ MORE: Current Collective Agreements with the City of Edmonton
Iveson said that changes in wage settlements significantly impact the City’s budget.
“I think it’s 58 per cent of our budget is the cost of human resources – to do all the work in the city. The rate of change in that makes a big difference to the budget and to the tax bill.”
However, he said he doesn’t anticipate large increases in wage settlements in the near future.
“I fully expect that we’re going to see lower settlements in the coming years, just based on what’s happening in the rest of the economy, and based on the signals that are coming out the provincial government’s negotiations – if you can call them that,” explained Iveson.
“Certainly there’s significant restraint for public sector wages, and there wasn’t the last time we negotiated with our union. So I think it’s going to be much more modest.”
Mike Scott, the head of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 30 – which represents employees in the construction, maintenance and public works in various city departments – told Global News he has noticed a decline in municipal wage increases across the country.
However, Scott said the City is not a niche market, and can’t reduce wages so much that it is uncompetitive. He added the current economy makes it possible for city workers to find jobs in the private sector.
The mayor pointed out the standard set by the province will likely impact the City’s negotiations.
“If the province has got lower settlements – and we do compete with the province on some level – it just means that the competitive environment starts more from that place than when they were giving five per cent settlements a few years ago.”
“The province has certainly set a tone with their settlements, and that will frame the negotiations,” Iveson explained. “But we start in good faith with our employees and we’ll have those conversations starting in the New Year.”
Scott said the union’s current agreement expires on Dec. 28 and that the union has already met with its bargaining unit and is now awaiting the City’s response.
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