City of Edmonton Proposal Vote Information

What is a proposal vote?

A proposal vote is a way for the COE to go around the Union to have members vote on the best and final offer they presented to the Union in mediation. Employers typically take this step if they feel their offer will be accepted by their employees. The COE is likely taking this step because they feel that the Union does not understand what members want to achieve in Collective Bargaining.

Employers only have one chance to apply and conduct a proposal vote and will only do so when they feel that employees will accept. It is obvious that the COE feels their offer will be accepted, which is why they are taking this step. Let's send them a message, vote NO!

What do we want members to do? VOTE NO!

We are asking every member to cast their vote and vote NO to the COE’s offer. A strong voter turnout and a strong NO vote again shows the COE that members want a negotiated, fair and reasonable settlement, not a mandated settlement.

The vote will be secure and supervised by the Board. While the voting link will be sent to City email addresses, the employer will not be able to see how employees vote. The email addresses are similar to a voters’ list and is used as a qualifier to ensure that only one vote per person is cast.

Why does the Bargaining Team want us to vote NO?

1. To prevent the COE from imposing their monetary mandate, which we don’t see as fair or reasonable. The 0, 1 and 2% on the front end does not begin to address inflation in Edmonton for 2021, 2022 and 2023. Inflation in Edmonton for those years, not seasonally adjusted, was 12.58%. The COE’s offer is 3%.
   
   The COE's offer also doesn't address that employees working 67.5 hours biweekly at the COE will eventually be moved to either the 73.8 or 80 hours of work options. Moving to 73.8 results in a 3.1% rollback in the hourly rate of pay. Moving to 80 hours results in a 5.5% rollback in the hourly rate of pay. While employees already working 80 hours are unaffected by this change, we have been trying fix the wage differential at each round of bargaining, including this round.
   
   The COE’s offer of 2% and 2.25% for 2024 and 2025 is also less than we expect for wage increases with other comparable public sector employers like the City of Calgary and the Government of Alberta. Further, we are already seeing negotiated wage increases coming in higher than the COE’s offer for 2024 and 2025. Wages are a lagging factor of inflation. This means that inflation happens and then wages catch up.
   
   Our 5-year offer to the COE of 1.5, 1.5, 2, 3.75, and 3.75% works out to 12.55% over 5 years. Given that CPI for three years up to 2023 was 12.58%, we would still be behind inflation.
   
   
2. CUPE Local 30 and ATU 569 will start bargaining in 2024. A strong NO! vote will allow the Unions to bargain together to prevent the COE from imposing a sub-standard deal. There is strength in bargaining 2024 and 2025 wages at the same time as the other Unions. Further, accepting the COE’s 5-year deal will set a precedent that the other Unions will need to try and overcome.
   
   
3. Your bargaining team told the COE that their 5-year deal is not acceptable. Clearly the COE feels that the Union doesn’t understand what members are willing to accept, or they wouldn’t be taking this step.
   
   If the COE’s 5-year offer is accepted, it will be disastrous for future rounds of bargaining. Every time the Union brings a proposal forward, the COE will say that we don’t know what members want and then deny all of our requests. Essentially, accepting the COE’s offer undermines the bargaining team’s ability to affect a good deal in future rounds of bargaining.