Independent arbitrator awards 1% raise to AHS GSS members
Independent arbitrator Phyllis Smith awarded a one-per-cent wage raise, retroactive to April 1, 2019, to AUPE members employed by Alberta Health Services General Support Services (AHS GSS).
“We have said all along that our members deserved a raise after enduring a two-year wage freeze,” says AUPE President Guy Smith.
“Hard-working members in health care and government services deserve more than one per cent, but we accept the decision made by the independent arbitrator.
“The previous NDP government’s attempt to force a third year of wage freeze on us in arbitration created a bad situation for our members, making us have to fight longer and wait longer for a raise. The UCP took advantage of that and tried to force a rollback on us. Both attempts have failed.”
About the increase
Your employer will pay you the difference between your current wage and the increased wage retroactive to April 1, 2019. This will come as a lump-sum payment.
Keep up the Fight – bargaining begins again soon
As we head into bargaining for your next collective agreements in the coming months, our message to the government is that it’s time to focus on Albertans. It’s time to put people before profits. It’s time to make decisions based on evidence, not ideology.
“We must be prepared to fight and remember that doing nothing, gets us nothing,” says Smith. The government has signalled its intentions many times, as recently as the 2020 budget town halls, when Finance Minister Travis Toews repeated that the government has budgeted no money for wage increases for years to come.
The threat against us, our jobs, our wages, our benefits, our pensions have not stopped. This fight started with the NDP offering zero wage increases for 2019/2020, and the UCP bringing in Bill 9 to delay arbitration decisions. That's when we began to protest, to fight back, and this decision today means our fight for a fair deal only escalate.
Negotiations Team
Local 054
Nancy Woods - nancy.janer@gmail.com
Julie Woodford (A) - juliew.chp006@gmail.com
Local 056
Deborah Nawroski – local56.bargaining@gmail.com
Tammy Lanktree (A) – local56.bargaining@gmail.com
Local 057
Darren Graham - chairlocal057@aupe.ca
Wendy Kicia (A) - wendykicia@hotmail.com
Local 058
Anton Schindler - waterdude69@gmail.com
Dave Ibach (A) - dl322j@gmail.com
Local 095
Stacey Ross - sross13@shaw.ca
Dusan Milutinovic (A) - dusan.aupe@yahoo.com
Lamont Health Care Centre GSS
Lorrie Tarka – lorrietarka@hotmail.com
Carol Palichuk – carolpalichuk@hotmail.com
AUPE Resource Staff
Chris Dickson, Negotiator - c.dickson@aupe.org
Farid Iskandar, Organizer - f.iskandar@aupe.org
Kate Jacobson, Organizer - k.jacobson@aupe.org
Alexander Delorme, Communications - a.delorme@aupe.org