Covenant Health GSS members agree to delay bargaining
Your negotiating team has accepted the employer’s offer to delay bargaining until March 31, 2021 in exchange for limited job protections.
While we are eager to get back to the bargaining to address the issues you identified in the Bargaining Survey earlier this year, the real and present danger of job cuts due to contracting-out and privatization looms large.
The negotiating team also considered the continued need for the vital services you provide in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and decided that the delay was the best course of action.
While we do not have a breakdown of the exact jobs that Covenant Health will seek to privatize or contract-out, Alberta Health Services confirmed last week that positions at Covenant Health are included in the 11,000 healthcare positions to be abolished.
The AHS implementation document points towards outsourcing in a number of areas: translation/interpretation services; non-clinical and clinical patient transport; food services; environmental and laundry services; and, procurement.
A delay in bargaining offers members the opportunity to continue to do this important work while the negotiating team works towards developing a bargaining strategy that will offer the best chance of job protections beyond March 31, 2021.
The Covenant Health Nursing Care negotiating team has decided to return to the bargaining table, in hopes of forcing the employer to address some of their issues, like short-staffing, that existed pre-pandemic. We offer them continued solidarity as they enter into what we expect will be a contentious round of negotiations.
The provisions in your collective agreement remain in full force. If you have any questions about your collective agreement or experiencing a problem at work, please contact a worksite steward. You can also reach your Membership Services Officer by calling AUPE’s Member Resource Centre at 1-800-232-7284.
If you have questions about bargaining, please contact a member of your negotiating team or AUPE resource staff.
Covenant Health GSS Negotiating Team
Lorie Christenson, lcc44local40@hotmail.com
Corey Kucher, cjkucher@gmail.com
Christee Langkamp, christee7@gmail.com
AUPE Resource Staff
Chris Dickson, Negotiator - c.dickson@aupe.org
Madelaine Somers, Organizer - m.somers@aupe.org
Trevor Zimmerman, Organizer - t.zimmerman@aupe.org
Mimi Williams, Communications - m.williams@aupe.org