Your team met with AHS on January 23 and 24 to continue bargaining.
We mostly spoke about scheduling, one of our most important issues. This included a long discussion about working 7 days in a row and 3 weekends out of 5.
AHS's proposal would basically make our current Scheduling Option 2 the default moving forward. The big problem, of course, is that Scheduling Option 2 lets AHS restrict us to just one day of rest between consecutive stretches.
We reviewed other proposed schedules, but they were no better. Your negotiating team rejected the employer’s proposals and referred them back to our scheduling proposal, which we believe provides much needed work-life-balance and stability.
Recruitment and retention crisis
AHS then felt the need to give us a presentation on staff recruitment and transfer statistics.
Unsurprisingly, their presentation actually confirmed that AHS and the government are causing the recruitment and retention crisis. New workers are choosing to stay away from Alberta’s health care sector because the pay, benefits, and working conditions are better elsewhere.
Your team will continue bargaining for the raises and collective agreement we need to attract new workers and offer current staff a better standard of living.
Essential Services Agreement
As mentioned in our last update, we had a case hearing about our Essential Services Agreement in December.
We’re fighting back against a ruling that says AUPE would be responsible for scheduling staff who are ‘essential’ after the first week of a strike or lockout.
AHS is North America’s largest health care employer with a budget over $20 billion. They are more than capable of scheduling a reduced number of shifts during a strike or lockout. AUPE is a much smaller organization and does not have capacity to schedule thousands of nursing care shifts.
We are still waiting for the results from our hearing. We will update you as soon as we know more.
Wear red Feb. 12 and 13
Our next bargaining meetings are February 12 and 13. Remember to wear red and email your solidarity photos to photos@aupe.org so we can share them!
Please contact a member of the negotiating team if you have any questions.
AUPE NEGOTIATING TEAM - AHS NURSING CARE
Local 041
Christine Vavrik
rvavrik@shaw.ca
Catherine Sivasankar (alt)
accb@shaw.ca
Local 043
Sandy Miller
smiller98@msn.com
Jennifer Power (alt)
cherrigarcia24@yahoo.ca
Local 044
Marg Miller
marg.miller@hotmail.ca
Jesse Philp (alt)
local044chair@gmail.com
Local 045
Nancy Burton
ndburton@hotmail.com
Angela Smyth (alt)
angelscare.as@gmail.com
Local 046
Marty Roy
chairlocal46@gmail.com
Heather Stewart (alt)
stewart.h@live.ca
AUPE RESOURCE STAFF
Kate Robinson, Lead Negotiator
k.robinson@aupe.org
Chris Dickson, Negotiator
c.dickson@aupe.org