Clear wage gains, benefit premiums for unionized workers - especially for part-time workers
Organised labour seems to be putting financial pressure on employers, as unionized workers are gaining pay increases unseen from non-unionized employees.
Overall, unionized workers in Alberta earn a clear wage and benefits premium over their non-union counterparts, with part-time employees seeing gains of nearly 30%, reports The Conversation.
Specifically, unionized workers in Alberta earn on average $3.40 more per hour than non-unionized employees — $37.88 per hour compared to $34.48, according to the report, which cites data from Statistics Canada (StatCan). The average unionized worker earns $1,404 a week, versus $1,296 for non-unionized employees working a similar number of hours, and is more likely to receive supplementary benefits, particularly in lower-wage sectors such as food services.
These findings come as Alberta’s political environment remains sharply resistant to organised labour. In October 2025, Premier Danielle Smith ended a provincewide teachers’ strike by invoking back-to-work legislation and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ notwithstanding clause.
The Back to School Act forced 51,000 striking teachers back to work and imposed a collective agreement that teachers had previously rejected during bargaining, The Conversation reports, describing the move as “the latest in a long history of anti-union legislation in Alberta.”
The wage...
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