Negotiations for local health care aides remains stagnant after years of bargaining

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

mpensation, negotiations between workers and Bayshore Health Care in Strathmore continue to be stagnant.

Scott Payne, director of communications for UFCW Local 401, and one of the lead negotiators for Bayshore Health Care members in Strathmore, explained he stepped in late last year to try and pick up the process, which represents just shy of 40 local health care aides. 

“Different sets of negotiations take different amounts of time, but it is pretty rare for any one set of negotiations to take this long,” he said. “There are two challenges that we are facing in (this) regard: one is that according to reports and research that we did … these are the lowest paid health care aides in the province, and we have no reasonable explanation for why that is the case.”

Payne added Strathmore’s local workers have expressed they are experiencing increasing challenges implemented by Bayshore Health Care to meet their clients’ needs and ensure quality care is administered.

On behalf of the workers, he explained compensation and benefits are regular issues addressed at the bargaining table; however, there are also avenues to try and enhance the contracts which members are working under.

“We are just having no luck being able to engage in a meaningful discussion with the employer about those issues, and we are very stuck at this point in time. These workers are feeling incredibly frustrated about how they are being treated,” said Payne. “They want to be able to do a good job and are finding it increasingly difficult to do so. These are workers who care very much for the clients that they are interacting with.”

According to Payne, workers have also expressed concerns about their ability to speak out publicly and raise their concerns, fearing for the security of their employment should they do so. 

Bayshore employees in Thunder Bay walked off the job in December 2025 to voice similar concerns to what is being experienced in Strathmore. These included low wages, unrealistic work expectations, and poor confidence in communication with management. 

The company had also previously been under fire in October 2025, when it was reported to have received $18 million through the Province of Ontario’s Skills Development fund, despite being implicated in medical supply issues throughout Ontario’s home care system in 2024.

Between 2021 and 2025, Bayshore had also received approximately $18.6 million from Ontario’s Ministry of Labour to reskill workers.

“The scheduler gives me four different clients who live out of town, but they don’t take away the clients I have in town. This makes it impossible to get all my work done. I’m always rushing between clients, and it’s not fair to them or me. They don’t even email us when there’s bad weather or if there’s a dangerous person in the area where our clients live,” said Erika Belanger, who is quoted through a UFCW Local 401 Take Action letter. “One time, there was a shooting outside Strathmore, and the police cordoned off an area to search for an armed and dangerous person. Even though our clients lived close by, no one said a word to us.”

Belanger, as well as James Bos, who is also quoted via the letter, both voiced concerns regarding unreasonable travel between patients, stressful and rush situations in order to arrive for clients, and the lack of appropriate compensation for their driving expenses. 

Reported salaries by Bayshore employees range from matching the national average for Licensed Practical Nurses, to being approximately 14 per cent below the national average for caregivers. 

The majority of currently posted job listings by Bayshore did not list pay rates or salaries job seekers could expect, should they choose to apply for an open position. Currently, over a dozen openings are listed in the region including Calgary, Strathmore, and Wheatland County. 

Payne explained when Bayshore’s workers first unionized and joined UFCW Local 401, negotiations were unsuccessful to the point of requiring a mediator to impose a first contract on the workers and the employer.

“That process took so long that essentially, by the time it wrapped up, we were on the doorstep of the end of the initial term and in a position where that first contract was expiring very shortly after the entire process for creating it had wrapped up,” he said. “We almost went straight into negotiations for improvements to that contract because … any collective agreement will have a particular term and a different contract.”

He added despite the myriads of concerns, as well as proposals put forward, Bayshore has been difficult to have meaningful conversation with, and has expressed little interest in expanding the language that is codified in the collective agreement which defines the terms and conditions for the employment of their workers.

The most recent offer from the employer, which was not disclosed, dated back to June 2024, and was deemed “exceedingly insufficient.” As of April 2026, Payne said Bayshore had indicated they did not wish to revise their position. 

“We have had to go to the Alberta Labour Relations Board to try and move the process for negotiating an essential services agreement along,” added Payne. “We have recently also had to go to the Alberta Labour Relations Board for assistance in terms of trying to move bargaining on the actual collective agreement along.”

In Alberta, an employer is not legally required to reimburse employees for their mileage; however, it is considered standard practice to do so at the tax-free rate prescribed by the Canada Revenue Agency. 

Locally, this equates to $0.73 per kilometer for the first 5,000 kilometers, and $0.67 per kilometer for any additional mileage. 

Compensation for Health Care Aides is governed by Alberta’s Employment Standards rules and are not classified as an exempt occupation to the regular minimum wage. 

According to the 2023 Alberta Wage and Salary Survey, Health Care Aides average in their compensation between $16 and $22.70 per hour. 

The Strathmore Times attempted to reach Bayshore Heath Care with a request for comment about the ongoing negotiations but did not receive a reply prior to our publication deadline. 

With Files from Global News, TB News Watch