The union representing more than 20,000 continuing care workers in Alberta said it’s putting continuing care operators “on notice” that strikes could be coming. It says more than 150 groups are in bargaining and are being offered “unreasonable, low wages” for workers. “For years we have been calling out the fact that the serious understaffing, lack of resources, the low wages and the burnout of these workers have created unsustainable workplaces,” said Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) President Sandra Azocar at a news conference Monday. Union leadership pointed out more than 90 operators in bargaining are private, for-profit companies and some are publicly traded, including Chartwell, Sienna Senior Living and Extendicare. The AUPE Director of Labour Relations said these companies recently received a provincial funding boost but that’s not being reflected at the bargaining table. “We’re only being offered 1 per cent but we know that they’ve received at least 7.25 per cent for the 2025 year,” said Kate Robinson. “We’re kind of left scratching our heads saying, ‘Where did the money go?’ We think it’s going to profit.” Azocar said the AUPE is asking for wages and working conditions equal to those in Alberta Health Services (AHS). She said its locals are in various stages of bargaining but one would be in a position to take a strike vote this fall. “Our members have had enough. We will be organising to get to that point in terms of taking strike votes and at that point, members would be in a position to go on strike after a 72-hour cooling period,” explained Azocar. CTV News Edmonton reached out to the operators named at the news conference and only Chartwell responded, saying it’s committed to reaching renewed collective agreements with AUPE. “Our priority is to support timely wage increases for employees and advance the renewal process in a constructive and timely manner,” writes senior communications director Mary Perrone Lisi. Calls for regulatory change In addition to increased wages, the AUPE is calling on the province to tighten its rules for continuing care operators. “They passed legislation to further deregulate care standards, lowering and removing minimum care hours when we should be putting in firm regulations that guarantee minimum care hours,” said Chris Galloway from Friends of Medicare. “We need our government to take this seriously, put in minimum standards, tie strings to that funding and ensure it’s actually going to care, not to profit.” A statement from the Assisted Living and Social Services ministry said this year the Alberta government is providing $5.9 billion to support continuing care, an $834 million increase over last year. It also said funding to operators is based on the number of beds and the “assessed care needs” of residents. “Operators are responsible for developing staffing plans that reflect the needs of their residents and for meeting legislative, contractual and funding requirements,” writes press secretary Jonah Pickle. The statement also said Alberta’s government is committed to supporting high-quality public services and it does not interfere in ongoing negotiations.
