Alberta announces wage offer for government workers [Video]

The Alberta government is offering a 7.5-per-cent wage increase in the midst of collective bargaining, with government workers calling for a 26-per-cent bump.

More than 22,000 members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees fall under the negotiations that began this year, including workers in social services, corrections and natural resources conservation.

In a previous update to members, the union called the government’s opening four-year offer an insult.

The union’s counter-proposal spans three years.

Finance Minister Nate Horner says his United Conservative Party government values the public service but doesn’t see publicly funded employees getting the same kind of settlement the union is demanding anywhere else in Canada.

Horner calls the union’s wage position extreme.

“The Alberta government will not increase taxes or cut programs, services or workers to give unprecedented salary increases that will result in pay well above market rates,” Horner said in a news release Monday.

Guy Smith, president of the union, said the government has been aware of the …