Your negotiating team hoped we might have a new collective agreement by early 2024. However, our negotiations with the employer in January 2024 and on March 8 brought up some challenges.
In the summer of 2023, we signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the employer to use the current Golden Sands collective agreement as a blueprint for our own agreement. We had our own site-specific concerns, like 12-hour shifts, benefits, annual vacation accrual, and LPN in-charge pay, but everything else, like the salary grid and shift differentials, was supposed to be adopted from the Golden Sands agreement with no issues.
Unfortunately, the employer’s negotiating team has changed, and the new members are not up to speed. Negotiations have been delayed while their new team tries to catch up.
Despite these challenges, we worked well together to address our site-specific concerns. However, Hawthorne Optima now says they have a new, different interpretation of our MOA. Your team believes mediation is our next step if we want to solve our differences at the table.
We understand that this has been a long and frustrating process, and we sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding. Our arguments are strong, and we believe we will get a positive outcome with the assistance of a mediator.
We will update you when we know the mediation dates or have any new information. Your support and solidarity mean so much to us as we continue to fight for our rights and interests.
Please contact a member of your negotiating team if you have any questions.
AUPE NEGOTIATING TEAM – HAWTHORNE
Lorna Cruz
lcruz1473@yahoo.com or 587-439-0423
Vicky Resuelo
mystery_1124@yahoo.com or 604-339-3731
AUPE RESOURCE STAFF
Christian Tetreault, Negotiations
c.tetreault@aupe.org