Edmonton, union finalize new deal for 3,500 city workers

One of Edmonton’s five civic workers’ unions and the municipality finalized a deal this week offering better benefits and raises to 2027.

City council voted this week to accept a new four-year agreement ratified for more than 3,500 CUPE Local 30 members in late March. This brings a peaceful end to the bargaining process after the contract expired at the end of 2023, avoiding the upheaval of a major labour dispute. The added cost to the city’s finances hasn’t been released.

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Animal control officers and park rangers, janitors, road maintenance and recreation centre workers, waste collectors and construction and trades workers, and attendants at Eco stations, arenas, and the zoo are included in this deal. Raises are set at 2.75 per cent increase for this year, $1 an hour more in 2025, and a three-per-cent jump for 2027. It also includes a 3.25 per cent retroactive raise for 2024.

Local union president Eric Lewis said there are many positives to the agreement, the result of hard work by negotiating teams.

“CUPE 30 members can now move forward and continue delivering the high-quality core services that Edmontonians rely on every day,” he said in a news release Thursday.

City manager Eddie Robar said the deal provides certainty and stability for both the municipality and its employees.

“The outcome of our successful discussions recognizes the needs of employees who provide important services to Edmontonians while supporting the City’s overall financial sustainability.”

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Other changes include increased coverage for psychological services, a subsidy for safety boots, adding bereavement leave for temporary and provisional employees, and making National Truth and Reconciliation Day a work holiday.

CUPE Local 30 is one of five unions in Edmonton’s coalition of civic unions, alongside the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 569, Edmonton Fire Fighters’ Union Local 209, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1007, and Civic Services Union (CSU) 52.

Tensions between CSU 52 and the city came to a head in March 2025 when an eleventh-hour deal narrowly avoided more than 5,000 library, clerical, technical and administrative workers walking off the job.

lboothby@postmedia.com

@laurby

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