Your Nursing Care negotiating team met with AHS this morning to continue bargaining, where we slammed the employer for continuing to contract out our work.
On April 11, 2024, AHS emailed AUPE informing us they were looking to hire more agency staff instead of filling vacancies in our workplaces through the normal hiring process.
Contracting out our work is unacceptable; contracting out our work while we are amid collective bargaining is insulting and ridiculous. This action undermines negotiations and jeopardizes the front-line nursing care workers Albertans rely on.
Contracting out our work to agency staff is costly and inefficient. Instead of fixing the root cause of our system’s recruitment and retention issues, AHS is looking for a band-aid solution.
Instead of offering us the wages and working conditions we deserve, AHS is paying even higher costs to bring in agency staff. This approach is short-sighted at best. Every dollar spent on agency nursing care shines a harsh light on the Government of Alberta and AHS' selective approach to paying workers what they are worth.
The employer is more than willing to pay agency nursing staff in line with market rates. Yet, when it comes to AUPE members, it conveniently ignores these same benchmarks and offers us unacceptable compensation.
This hypocrisy is unacceptable and further emphasizes the urgent need for AHS to compensate AUPE members in line with industry standards.
Your team demanded that AHS and the Government of Alberta re-evaluate their priorities and focus on fair wages and working conditions for health care workers, recognize our invaluable contributions to the province, and respect our rights during collective bargaining.
If AHS and the government ignore our concerns, they will perpetuate the cycle of understaffing and overworking our nursing teams, which ultimately compromises patient care and safety.
Your team will provide another full bargaining update after we finish our meetings this week. Please contact a member of your negotiating team if you have any questions.
AUPE NEGOTIATING TEAM – AHS Nursing Care
Local 041
Christine Vavrik
rvavrik@shaw.ca
Mellissa Bremner (alt)
mellissabremner@gmail.com
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 NEGOTIATORS
Kate Robinson Lead Negotiator
k.robinson@aupe.org
Chris Dickson Negotiator
c.dickson@aupe.org