EDMONTON -- Alberta’s nurses and teachers will not see their wages reduced, but instead frozen, it was decided late Friday afternoon after arbitration ended between their unions and the province.

The province had been seeking a two-per cent decrease from teachers, the Alberta Teachers Association said, and a three-per cent rollback from registered nurses and psychiatric nurses, United Nurses of Alberta said.

Finance Minister Travis Toews said in a statement the decisions reflect the province’s economy and “crucial need to fix Alberta’s spending problem.”

However, ATA President Jason Schilling said teachers have only once received a salary increase in the last eight years: “The province has not been in recession for 8 years — teachers have already done their share.”

But the province referenced a September report which concluded the province needed to cut spending, particularly in health and education.

“As the MacKinnon panel identified, public sector compensation accounts for more than half of government expenses and wages are, on average, substantially higher than other large provinces,” Toews said.

“Correcting wages over time is a critical part of our government’s commitment to get our fiscal house in order. Even with these decisions, fiscal restraint and discipline must continue as we enter into new collective bargaining negotiations in 2020. As we said at Budget 2019, there is no new money for public sector raises in the fiscal plan.”

According to the UNA, the salaries of its 30,000 members were frozen in the first two years of a three-year contract that expires March 31.

And, it said, “while nurses are the highest paid in the country, the same is true for virtually any other occupation or profession in Alberta compared to other provinces.”

At the arbitration hearings, the UNA said it argued incomes have not kept pace with inflation — and heard from the arbitrator that wage changes were unjustified in the last year of a collective agreement, given the economy and current stability of employment.

The UNA will begin negotiations with the province Jan. 14.

The ATA’s collective bargaining agreement expires in August, with negotiations expected to start in March.

“The stakes are going to be higher than ever,” Schilling commented.

“Frankly, Alberta teachers are tired of having to pay for the continuing failure of successive governments to adequately fund public education.”

Arbitration was started after the province introduced in June a bill that would allow government to delay wage talks for public sector workers. The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees sought an injunction against the bill in July, preventing it momentarily from being implemented. Court ruled in the provincial government’s favour after it appealed.