A new contract has been reached between some 23,000 civil servants and the Alberta government, averting a strike that could’ve happened as soon as next week.

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees says the mediator-recommended deal passed with 63 per cent of voting members in favour and 36.5 per cent opposed.

The affected employees include administrative workers, some Alberta Sheriffs, social workers and provincial wildfire fighters.

The offer stemmed from a last-ditch mediated bargaining effort last month between the union and the province, and includes a 12 per cent wage increase over four years.

Union members voted 90 per cent in favour of strike action back in May and that strike vote was set to expire next week.

The union says it was a difficult bargaining process and that it

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