Alberta health workers ratify deal reached moments before strike was set to start
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EDMONTON – A deal reached a minute before thousands of Alberta health workers were set to strike last weekend has been approved, their union says.
The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees says in a news release that more than 16,000 nursing care members, which includes licensed practical nurses and health-care aides, have ratified a new collective agreement.
An exception was nursing care members at the Lamont Health Care Centre, who it says rejected the agreement in a separate ratification vote and will return to the bargaining table.
The union says the agreement includes total raises of nearly 24 per cent for licensed practical nurses, just over 17 per cent for health-care aides, and also has increases to shift premiums and rates.
It’s retroactive to April 1, 2024, and will expire March 31, 2028.
Union president Sandra Azocar says in the news release that “members have officially raised the bar for collective agreements in this province.”
“This collective agreement is a strong step towards the wages and working conditions our members deserve. We will be in a strong position when we begin bargaining again in 2028,” Azocar said.
Picket lines had been anticipated at health centres and hospitals starting at 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 22, and the tentative deal was announced just as the deadline approached.
Azocar said at the time that some members had already walked off the job by the time they received word.
The union said 71 per cent of members participated in the ratification vote. Members working for Alberta Health Services and the new pillars of health care voted 63.3 per cent in favour of the agreement. Members at the Allen Gray Continuing Care Centre in Edmonton voted 95 per cent in favour, it said.
“After months of negotiations, we appreciate the collective effort it has taken for AHS and AUPE to reach an agreement,” Finance Minister Nate Horner said in a statement late Friday.
“We thank these workers for their skill, dedication and the difference they make every day in Alberta’s health-care system.”
The union said the agreement also contains funding boosts for the Rural Capacity Investment Fund to help recruit and retain staff in areas of the province where it is hard to do so.
About 78 per cent of union members are essential workers, meaning not all would have been legally permitted to strike, so they had been planning to rotate shifts on picket lines.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 28, 2025.