Employer’s proposal does not address site specific concerns
Last week, we met with the employer over three days to present our non-monetary proposal for your first collective agreement. Our proposal included standard articles as well as the results from the survey you all completed. Your negotiating team reviewed several collective agreements from other Park Place AUPE represented agreements and used them as templates to create our initial proposal. We aimed to improve the language where necessary and also looked at site-specific issues to include in the agreement, such as how Silverado Creek currently operates on a day-to-day basis.
However, the employer took a different approach in their ingoing proposal, using standard, employer-friendly, and generic language that didn't consider site-specific issues. This approach caused friction between the parties, as we felt that it did not adequately address key concerns such as scheduling, offering additional shifts, and vacation scheduling. Their proposal really does not serve much purpose as it is not how things are currently done at the site, with no real rationale, other than anecdotal what-ifs, or what could happen.
We are unsure if the employer used any templates in creating their proposal, but we feel that our approach is more comprehensive and tailored to the needs of our specific workplace.
All that said, this is normal in negotiating a first agreement and we're only at the beginning stages of creating a fair agreement that recognizes the important work that you do as HCAs and LPNs. When we get to the monetary negotiations, we will be advocating for fair compensation that is aligned with other Park Place sites and wages in Alberta.
We have three more days of negotiations next week, and we're hopeful that they will be more productive. We're not going to back down from our initial proposal. Our proposal closely mirrors current Park Place agreements while taking into consideration the mandate that you gave us through the survey.
We're pleased to report that we have already signed off on nine articles, including:
- Article 2 – Definitions
- Article 3 – Application
- Article 4 - Union Recognition
- Article 5 - Union Membership and Dues Deductions
- Article 6 - Union Stewards
- Article 8 - Respectful Workplace
- Article 22 - Workers Compensation
- Article 28 - Occupational Health and Safety
- Article 29 - Employee/Management Committee
We appreciate your support throughout this process, and we will continue to ensure that you are well represented at the negotiating table to achieve a fair agreement that recognizes your important work. Please reach out to your negotiating team with any questions, comments, or concerns.
AUPE NEGOTIATING TEAM – SILVERADO CREEK (SIVERADO SENIORS VILLAGE PARTNERSHIP)
Jennifer De Leon
ajengelits@yahoo.com or 587-500-3048
Lian Rivera
lianorjaninerivera@yahoo.com or 587-228-9243
Theresa Ganaden
theresaganaden28@live.com or 403-383-1419
AUPE RESOURCE STAFF
Christian Tetreault, Negotiations
c.tetreault@aupe.org
Michelle Szalynski, Organizing
m.szalynski@aupe.org
Communications
Co@aupe.org