Your negotiating team is pleased to report that bargaining with AHS remains on the right track, and we aim to keep it that way. From Sept. 13 - 15 we met to discuss monetary issues, specifically AHS’s insulting and unreasonable concessions. By the end of our last bargaining meeting, we agreed in-principle to withdraw two of these concessions, including:
- Withdrawal of proposed reductions in overtime pay in Article 13.02, 13.03, and 13.04. (with the exception of the “super stats” in 13.03(b). This concession is still on the table).
- Withdrawal of the proposed preclusion of retroactivity for anyone who terminates employment prior to the ratification of the agreement in Article 1.04.
The removal of these proposals is a significant step towards coming to a fair agreement. As staffing issues plague your workplaces, you’ve all been working exorbitant overtime – you should be compensated fairly for these hours. Furthermore, any nursing care member who has worked for AHS over the last year should benefit from any retroactive improvements and protections we secure.
In exchange for these protections, AHS insisted that we remove two of our proposals. One is the “No Hypocrisy” clause that compels the government and the employer to conduct themselves as they expect you to conduct yourselves. Frankly, Alberta’s premier has already demonstrated that he thinks he’s beyond reproach and above respecting frontline healthcare workers like you anyways, so agreeing to remove this clause was a small price to pay for protecting two of your monetary clauses. The second proposal turned out to be of minimal consequence, so we were ok with removing it.
Job Security
We know how important job security is to our nursing care team. We entered this round of bargaining knowing that the current language must be stronger. Today, we’re pleased to report that we’ve agreed in-principle to a Letter of Understanding (LOU) that will provide you with much better job protection because it is not limited to employer-controlled workforce initiatives.
Your negotiating team aims to keep up this momentum at the bargaining table and compel AHS to remove all proposed monetary concessions that threaten your wellbeing. Our next bargaining dates are scheduled for Sept. 20 & 21. We’ll have another update for you then. In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact your negotiations team – that’s what we’re here for.
AHS NURSING CARE NEGOTIATING TEAM
Local 041
Christine Vavrik - rvavrik@shaw.ca
Myrna Wright (A) - merite77@shaw.ca
Local 043
Judy Fader - local4308@gmail.com
Local 044
Brenda Bailer - brendabailer@gmail.com
Laurie Johnson (A) - rycehome5@gmail.com
Local 045
Nancy Burton - ndburton@hotmail.com
Angela Smyth (A) - angelscare@shaw.ca
Local 046
Sandy Kyle sandyg.kyle@gmail.com
Pauline (PJ) Clarke (A) - ebonysmurf@mail.com
AUPE RESOURCE STAFF
Jason Rattray, Lead Negotiator - j.rattray@aupe.org
Chris Dickson, Negotiator - c.dickson@aupe.org
Tracy Noble, Organizer – t.noble@aupe.org
Margaret Kapuwa, Organizer – m.kapuwa@aupe.org
Kate Jacobson, Organizer - k.jacobson@aupe.org
Mimi Williams, Communications - m.williams@aupe.org