Alberta nurses getting 20% pay bump by 2028 after union, province reach 4-year deal
Posted Apr 3, 2025 11:01 am.
Last Updated Apr 3, 2025 11:24 am.
Alberta’s nurses have secured a new collective bargaining agreement.
The United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) has signed a four-year contract with the province after months of bargaining and mediation, with the union saying members voted “overwhelmingly” — 96 per cent — to ratify the agreement.
The new deal will see more than 30,000 Alberta nurses receive pay increases of about 20 per cent by 2028, “plus significant increases in premium pay and other benefits.” The UNA says the deal makes its members the highest paid nurses in any Canadian province.
The contract retroactively takes effect from March 31, 2024, and will expire April 1, 2028.
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The union says the agreement also includes job security protection, as Alberta overhauls its health-care system, as well as assurances for staffing levels.
UNA president Heather Smith called the deal “a meaningful step toward the recognition and respect Alberta’s nurses deserve and have been fighting for.”
“The negotiating committee believed it includes fair increases in compensation that will help to retain nurses now working in the health-care system and recruit new nurses to work in Alberta,” she added.
The UNA says the agreement brings a “difficult” round of bargaining to an end.
Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner says the deal ensures the province is a competitive place for nurses to work.
“The Graduate Nursing Transition Pilot Program commits to hiring 1,000 new nursing graduates every year, throughout the term of the contract,” Horner said in a statement. “This means that almost every nurse who graduates from a post-secondary institution in the province could have a full-time position following graduation.
“All of these initiatives will hopefully reduce the need for overtime, agency staffing and the need to recruit internationally educated nurses.”
The minister adds investment into recruitment for rural and remote areas of Albert will triple to more than $22 million per year.
–With files from The Canadian Press
