Dear Mayor Sohi,
I write to you today regarding proposed changes to the City of Edmonton’s Living Wage Policy (C612B).
Starting Jan. 1, 2025, OE955 Health & Wellness benefits will be provided to members through Alberta Blue Cross.
“After fighting for more than 5 years to have their union recognized, and following a very rare remedial certification from the Alberta Labour Relations Board, I’m incredibly pleased to announce workers at Cropac Equipment ratified their first ever collective agreement on July 11.
It is my pleasure to let you know that, effective Jan. 1, 2025, all members in good standing as of Sept. 1, 2024, will receive an additional 5% boost to their pensions.
IUOE LOCAL 955 is incredibly pleased to announce that for the first time ever, an agreement has been made between the Government of Alberta and a skilled-trades union to fund a pilot training project through IUOE LOCAL 955’s Budd Coutts Apprenticeship and Education Centre.
We are very excited about the changes that have come to IUOE Local 955’s plan this year. We have heard some feedback from members about dropping in and out of coverage, and other members saying they expect more from their benefits after bargaining increases. With the feedback we get from you, our valued membership, and expert feedback from our consultants, we have come up with a revamped design that will help solve many issues! As of January 1, 2024, we started a Core and Extended division within the main plan. What does this mean?
Dear sisters and brothers,
During IUOE Local 955’s 75th Anniversary Gala and Long-Service Awards on September 23, I was pleased to announce a 5% pension increase to all good-standing members, effective October 1, 2023 and retroactive to January 1, 2023. To be able to announce such an increase, and in the 50th anniversary year of our Pension Trust Fund, was an absolute honour.
What does this mean?
For our good-standing pensioners, you would have seen two things on your October 1 pension payments:
• an increase of 5% of regular payments, and
• a retroactive payment back to January 1, 2023 for the 5% increase
For our good standing, non-retired members, your accrued pension at January 1, 2023 would have been increased by 5%. So whatever pension you had earned by the start of the year, just grew by 5%!
We know it’s been a long-time since the plan has been able to give an increase, and with high inflation, this has been felt even stronger. The board was honoured we were able to provide an increase this year, which hopefully reduces some of those stressors for you.
We are thankful to previous boards and administrations that, through careful stewardship of the plan, have steered it to be the strong, stable plan we see today. We are also incredibly thankful to plan members who have put in years of hard work, which has resulted in the plan becoming one of the biggest multi-employer pension plans in Alberta.
Our plan has weathered many storms over the years, has stood up to those tests, and has been a source of important, reliable income for so many. I’m incredibly proud of that and excited to see what the plan holds for members over the next 50 years.
In solidarity,
Chris Flett,
Business Manager and Pension Trust Fund Chair, IUOE Local 955
Fort McMurray - Reoccurring complaints of wage theft in Fort McMurray’s overburden mining have led the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 955 to increase focus on the sector in the region to help recover income that rightfully belongs to the workers who make the industry run.
Beep beep. The inaugural IUOE 955 Show & Shine is coming your way Sept. 8 at the union hall in Fort Mac. This is your chance to show off your classic car, truck, roadster, muscle car, bike, DeLorean or whatever turns your crank. We’ll be collecting $ for the Fort McMurray SPCA too! See ya there!
Around 80 health-care workers at Edmonton North Primary Care Network will now enjoy the benefits and protections of a 955 collective agreement following an overwhelming acceptance vote held earlier this week.
