Foyer Lacombe: Tentative agreement reached!

Your bargaining committee at Covenant Care’s Foyer Lacombe are happy to announce that we have reached a tentative agreement with the employer for our first collective agreement.

Following long delays in bargaining related to COVID-19, as well as delays to see the results of mediation at similar workplaces, our bargaining committee finally has a package to bring back to our co-workers. The deal contains some significant improvements for us.

First, we will all receive a 1.5-per-cent pay increase for this year, starting 30 days after we ratify the contract, no matter our classification. Your bargaining committee has also defined a process for renegotiating salaries in 2022, after negotiations finish at Alberta Health Services.

For overtime pay, our tentative agreement would see us paid 1.5 times our wage for the first two hours of overtime, and the double for any time after that. Previously, we were always at 1.5 times, no matter how many hours of overtime we worked.

Evening shift premiums would increase from $2.50 per hour to $2.75, and night shift premiums would increase from $4 to $4.50 per hour. Christmas day would become a “super stat” where your hours would be paid at double your wage.

Your bargaining committee has also secured lots of non-monetary improvements in this tentative agreement. If we ratify this contract, we will have access to five “personal days” off work for family responsibilities—two of which would be paid, three unpaid. We have also improved the provisions for bereavement leave, and created new meal allowances for worker who do over three hours of overtime.

Voting is on Nov. 5

There’s a lot more to this tentative agreement than we have the space to go over in this update, but those are some of the highlights. Your bargaining committee will be sending you a copy of the full tentative agreement by the end of this week.

We will be voting on this package on Nov. 5. Your bargaining committee encourages you to talk to your co-workers about the proposal and keep each other informed about the process—just make sure to do it while you’re not on employer-paid time.

Your participation has been essential to this process. Your support has shown the employer that we mean business, and helped your bargaining committee secure the gains that are in this tentative agreement. Soon, it will be your turn to decide what happens next.

As always, don’t hesitate to reach out to your bargaining committee with any questions, comments, or feedback. Let’s take this negotiation across the finish line.

Foyer Lacombe NC & GSS bargaining team

Laurel Morrill laurelmorrill@icloud.com or 780-237-1573(c)

Finuela Barnachea cherubpong@yahoo.ca or 780-566-1297(c)

Ravinder Sodhi sodhimail@yahoo.com or 780-695-9176(c)

Alternates

Nancy Alexander snalexander04@yahoo.ca or 780-974-9608(c)

Elizabeth Nichols nicholre@shaw.ca or 780-218-4348(c)

AUPE resource staff

Christian Tetreault, Negotiator    c.tetreault@aupe.org

Jaime Urbina, Organizer: j.urbina@aupe.org

Jon Milton, Communications Officer: j.milton@aupe.org