Your negotiating team met with AHS on April 7 and 8 for bargaining.
AHS’s behavior was outrageous. They insulted you, they insulted your team, and they insulted AUPE President Guy Smith, who joined us for these meetings.
Your negotiating team is furious. Our meetings ended with AHS walking away from negotiations.
The bottom line? AHS insists on pushing the same insulting wage offer, an outright refusal to give us the wages and contract we deserve.
Bargaining was bad – it gets worse
This all started because AHS derailed bargaining plans at the last minute.
Your team shared evidence to support significant raises during our last meetings in February. We expected AHS to respond to this at our April 7 and 8 meetings.
However, AHS contacted us near the end of the day on Friday, April 4, and threatened to cancel our bargaining meetings if we did not give them a new counterproposal.
Your team worked all weekend on revised proposals. We did this in a good-faith effort to keep bargaining going.
We shared our new proposals at the start of our April 7 meeting. By the next morning, AHS told us they would never accept our proposals.
In fact, they said they would not even share our proposals with their “decision makers.” They went on to insult your team, your negotiator, and President Smith. They did all this while reading off a script, presumably provided by their “decision makers.”
We do not need AHS to read off a script. We need them to bargain in good faith.
President Smith and your team then told AHS exactly what we thought of their “mandate,” their refusal to consider our proposals, and their cowardly, disrespectful behavior.
What’s next
AHS refused to negotiate further. They walked away from the table and refuse to meet again until we move on to formal mediation, so that is our next step.
Your team and AUPE Resource Staff will now turn our full focus to finishing the AHS Nursing Care Essential Services Agreement (ESA). We need the final ESA to begin formal mediation.
We hope we can reach a deal at the table with a mediator’s help. However, members should be prepared to take a strike vote to settle our contract in the future, if necessary.
AHS does not think we deserve fair wages
This all comes down to our wages, the most important issue for most of us. Everything is more expensive. Groceries prices go up. Rent goes up. A dollar just doesn’t buy what it used to, even compared to the last few years following the pandemic.
But AHS thinks we deserve the same old wage increases they proposed at the beginning of this round of bargaining. They don’t even think we deserve the same kind of deal they agreed to with the United Nurses of Alberta.
Here is the counterproposal we shared on April 7:
- LPN wages rise to be 84% of RN wages, which reflects LPNs’ scope of practice.
- Wages for HCAs and other classifications would rise at the same rate as LPN wages.
AHS’s behavior has consequences, however. Because they did not bother to consider our new counterproposal, your negotiating team withdrew the new offer and are happy to stick with our previous wage proposal.
Your team’s wage proposal is:
- April 1, 2024 - 25%
- April 1, 2025 - 10%
- LPN Scope of practice adjustment - 20%
- HCA Scope of practice adjustment - 15%
Members can download a PDF version of your team’s presentation about our wages. Our presentation highlights how AHS promotes working together and doing the right thing, and then it shows them how to do the right thing by improving our wages, benefits, and working conditions.
AHS told us they would send an all-staff email about our bargaining meetings. Members should expect to see that within the next few days.
We need leaders – register for Strike Captain Training
AUPE members must be prepared for the possibility of a strike or lockout.
AHS’s actions make it clear – they have no intention of agreeing to the wages and contract we deserve without a fight.
Register today for an upcoming Strike Captain Course. This in-person course is just 1 day, and you will receive time off work to take it.
Learn more about being a Strike Captain and register for a course near you.
Keep wearing red to show your solidarity! Email photos of you and your coworkers wearing red to photos@aupe.org and we will share them on AUPE’s social media.
Please contact a member of your negotiating team if you have any questions.
AHS NURSING CARE NEGOTIATING TEAM
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
bargaininglocal46@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
