UNA reaches Tentative Agreement in Bargaining with Employers for Provincial Collective Agreement

United Nurses of Alberta has reached a Tentative Agreement on a Collective Agreement for more than 33,000 Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses employed by Alberta Health Services, Recovery Alberta, Primary Care Alberta, Covenant Health, Lamont Health Care Centre, and The Bethany Group (Camrose).

UNA began formal mediation in January 2025 in order to push the bargaining process forward after a majority of UNA members voted in October 2024 to reject previous recommendations that had been reached through informal mediation.

After six weeks of formal mediation with the Employers, UNA’s Negotiating Committee strongly believes this Tentative Agreement respects nurses and will provide significant improvements for UNA members.

A Tentative Agreement was signed this morning.

“This round of negotiations has been about Respect, Retention and Recruitment. When UNA members voted against ratifying a settlement recommended by a Mediator last October, they spoke and we listened,” said UNA President Heather Smith.

“UNA’s bargaining team agreed to a Tentative Agreement,” said UNA chief negotiator David Harrigan, who is also UNA’s Director of Labour Relations. “We believe it is an excellent agreement.” 

UNA’s Negotiating Committee recommends ratification of the Tentative Agreement. 

UNA plans to hold an online meeting of UNA Local Executives on Tuesday, March 11 at 6:00 p.m., and online town halls for members on Saturday, March 15, at 1:00 p.m. and Tuesday, March 18, at 7:00 p.m. Information will be distributed to members about how to join the meetings.

A virtual Reporting Meeting of Local Representatives will be held on March 25, and the UNA Negotiating Committee will be recommending a ratification vote for all eligible members take place on April 2.

Tentative Agreement Summary

Monetary Increases

The four-year agreement will significantly improve wages for all affected UNA members. RNs and RPNs will have an immediate increase of up to 15% and an overall increase of approximately 20%. The RRSP/TSFA remains current. The Education Allowance remains current.

Visit UNA’s Wage Calculator Tool

Note: After recognizing an error was present in the instructions provided during the development of the UNA Wage Calculator, changes have been made to rectify the situation. The calculator was incorrectly advancing some members two steps in error. Although the calculator was incorrect, the pay grades in the salary appendix were correct. Please re-check how the Tentative Agreement will affect you.

The changes to the Salary Appendix include the following:

• The 3% retroactive payment to April 1, 2024 will be based on the revised grid (4% between steps).
• A restructured wage grid that now provides the same increase of 4% between each step. 
• Immediately upon ratification of the Tentative Agreement, all RNs and RPNs will advance to the rate of pay of the next step on the salary grid but the number of the step they are on does not change. This is an automatic increase of 4% (including Step 9) and all steps will see increases of 3% on April 1, 2025. 
• Members will maintain their anniversary date or hours towards next increment. 
• Pay increases of 3% per year will be added to each step of the revised grid for the life of the agreement. 

There are also other significant monetary improvements in the Tentative Agreement, including:

• The on-call rate more than doubles from $3.30 per hour to $7.00 per hour.
• Charge pay will increase from $2.00 to $3.50.
• Preceptor pay will increase from $0.65 to $2.00 per hour.
• Employees required to have vehicles will receive $162.50 per month rather than the current $130.00 per month.

In addition, coverage for massage therapy is amended to $1,000 per member each benefit year with no per-visit limit.

Safe Staffing

In a new Letter of Understanding (LoU), the Employer has explicitly committed to “providing safe staffing for all patients, residents, and clients.” To achieve this, the Union and Employers have agreed to meet and identify a standardized list of clinical and operational data that will form the basis of a new evidence-based safe staffing review.

This LoU includes a new provision that, in the event of disagreement, the union can take concerns about safe staffing to an expedited review by a Safe Staffing Taskforce, and if necessary, to an outside Independent Assessment Committee.

The Employers are obligated to hire 1,000 new nursing graduates per year. These nursing graduates will be supernumerary and be assigned a Clinical Guide who will be paid an additional $2.00 per hour.

Respect

Members will now have five paid shifts for domestic violence leave.

Members will now be paid their applicable rate of pay for attendance at Occupational Health and Safety Committee meetings.

For Employees who have accumulated 684.6 hours worked, Employers will now reimburse the full cost of professional fees to CRNA and CRPNA, as well as the cost of professional liability insurance. Members having the ability to combine hours worked at more than one Employer covered by this Collective Agreement to achieve the 684.6 hours.

Employees impacted by critical incidents may now request downtime during the Shift without loss of pay.

Presumptive Coverage for PTSD and Psychological Injuries

UNA received a letter signed by Minister of Jobs, Economy and Trade Matt Jones stating a proposal will be taken to cabinet no later than June 30, 2025 to extend presumptive coverage by the Workers’ Compensation Board to RNs and RPNs for psychological injuries related to post-traumatic stress disorder and other traumatic mental health injuries. UNA has long advocated for this significant policy change by the government.

Job Security during Health Restructuring

UNA's Negotiating Committee received a Letter of Commitment signed by Minister of Health Adriana LaGrange assuring that any job transfers of an RN or RPN due to the government’s restructuring of public health care will be to a provincial agency or provincial health corporation, preserving affected members’ seniority, rights to the terms and conditions of the Provincial Collective Agreement, and UNA representation.

Assistance for Rural Health Care

The nurse staffing shortage has impacted health-care workplaces across Alberta, and especially in rural settings. In a renewed Letter of Understanding, the government has agreed to provide $22.5 million per year for retention and recruitment of nurses in rural Alberta. This is a large increase from the $7.5 million per year in the previous agreement.

UNA has full say in how this money will be spent and the Union and Employers may mutually agree to use these funds to target initiatives in rural worksite sites that fall within the Edmonton and Calgary Zones.

In addition, the Locum program that currently exists in the North Zone will be re-negotiated to include the South and Central Zones. This program provides incentives for staffing rural facilities and programs experiencing recruitment and retention challenges.

For more information, visit the Frequently Asked Questions about the Tentative Agreement