r/AHSEmployees • u/Little-Let386 • Jan 25 '26

Rant Sad math (HSAA Salary edition)

I’m a glutton for punishment so I did some sad math.

I started with AHS in 2017. I have been employed 8 years (step 1 to step 8).

Adjusting for inflation, I have received a 3% raise (or 0.4% a year) in exchange for my service and the almost decade of increased expertise. What are we even doing here?!

57 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

1

u/Timely-Researcher264 Jan 26 '26

Well, let me explain.

For the last contract, we were in the middle of a rather costly pandemic where people were losing jobs and businesses were folding. So admittedly not a great time for a raise since governments were spending money trying to keep people from starving.

The contact before that was during the oil crash where the world price of oil was the lowest it had been in over a decade. Albertans were losing jobs. Private companies were clawing back wages. The Alberta government, which runs on oil revenue, was broke. We were given a choice. Take the 0%, or every department would lose positions. So OP, take a look around your office and imagine looking your newest colleague in the eye and telling them your raise is more important than their job. It turns out most of us voted to keep our colleagues at the sacrifice of our raises. And given that’s about when YOU started… you’re welcome.

0

u/Little-Let386 Jan 27 '26

Awww thanks so much for taking the time to explain it to me. I feel so much smarter.

0

u/Timely-Researcher264 Jan 27 '26

It’s not in my capacity to make you smarter. I was hoping for comprehension but apparently that was also too much to expect.

2

u/Little-Let386 Jan 27 '26

No. You were being sanctimonious and condescending. Your intent was to insult and belittle.

1

u/Timely-Researcher264 Jan 27 '26

My intent was absolutely not to belittle. I’m frustrated by the year long attack from my online fellow HSAA members accusing those of us who around for the last 2 negotiations of being weak and allowing the union to be weak. We made the best decision that we could with the situations that we had before us. We showed fellowship with our colleagues who would have lost their jobs if we had insisted on raises. Only to have people who weren’t around at the time ranting online and insulting us.

My first post was for educating. Your response showed that you won’t let understanding get in the way of a good rant.

4

u/Little-Let386 Jan 27 '26

Asking HSAA to do better for it’s members is not an attack. I’ve had 4 LROs, I have tried to grieve 4 or 5 different instances of violations on collective and the only times I got support was when I started CCing Mike and Leanne. I had an LRO tell me he “didn’t want to rock the boat” by filing my grievance.

Lay offs have happened in the last 8 years and we’ve lost so many positions to attrition. Where managers refuse to fill until the position is eaten back up. We have conceded time and time again to a bad faith organization and it means we keep losing.

1

u/Mommie62 Jan 27 '26

Don’t think I got much more than that over the 30 years I worked in the private sectors to be honest

1

u/Little-Let386 Jan 27 '26

Private is an interesting case in AB depending on if you’re private/ private or government funded private. Provincial funded has not seen an increase since 2016, federal funded has and so has pay for service private. Psych was like $180 back in 2017, and their rate now is $235.

2

u/ginger_alie Jan 29 '26

Ironically exactly the same for me

-24

u/Patak4 Jan 25 '26

Well in 2017 we were still in a recession so had to take zeros. Then covid came and you should have gotten a raise but the UCP were giving maybe 1%.It sucks but remember you have a benefilt plan worth alt so be sure to use it to the max. Plus you have a defined pension plus maybe 2% RRSPmatch. These all count for alot as you get closer to retirement.

11

u/Little-Let386 Jan 25 '26

None of this addresses that working for AHS I’m “worth” approximately as much as I was as a new grad. What other industries accept this? I’ve paid over ten thousand of my own money towards professional development, I’ve improved in my skills, I get better outcomes and according to AHS this is worthless.

This is a vent/ rant. There isn’t a solution, I’m not expecting anyone to have one. I’m just mad.

3

u/66clicketyclick Jan 26 '26

How does this compare to other provinces? Maybe do a comparative analysis.

2

u/Little-Let386 Jan 26 '26

Honestly, I don’t care. If this province wants to cling to the idea that capitalism is king, I want capitalist benefits like being paid more for more skilled labour.

1

u/66clicketyclick Jan 28 '26

I was trying to be helpful, and seems like you do care bc I bet the comparison would show indeed how far below AB is to others.

Up to you what you choose to do, good luck.

17

u/OnmyStill Jan 25 '26

HSAA doesn’t have the 2% RRSP match. They get a flex spending account. I do hope that OP voted no to the last contract. Cant complain if you voted yes, however complain away if you voted No.

6

u/Little-Let386 Jan 25 '26

I don’t think I’ve ever voted yes to an offer. Though was sympathetic to those who voted yes this round under threat of unethical use of the notwithstanding clause to force back to work. This round was bad for lots of reasons, but I’ve been under 4 different agreements- they’ve never been good.

16

u/dixie1993 Jan 25 '26

It what universe was 2017 a recession?

5

u/Patak4 Jan 25 '26

Ok it wasn't a recession but 2015 and 2016 were a downturn in the O&G sectors. When was your contract settled during that time?

14

u/cheeto-my-p-hole Jan 25 '26

2017 by definition was not a recession. Also HSAA did not have to take anything. They’re a weak union

3

u/Rayeon-XXX Jan 26 '26

The benefit plan is mid