St. Therese Villa: Bargaining begins soon

After significant delays, your negotiations team is finally gearing up to begin bargaining at St. Therese Villa.

Over the past year, the team has met numerous times to prepare for this round of negotiations. It hasn’t been easy over the past 19 months, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the negotiations team has been working with the changing situation and getting prepared. With all your hard work over the course of the pandemic, your negotiations team is working to secure a deal that reflects the essential service you provide.

The employer delayed bargaining, due to the pandemic, until July 2021. That period is now over, and we have confirmed dates to start negotiations September 20 and 21.

The negotiations team appreciates the patience of our co-workers through this long process. We determined our negotiating priorities through interaction with our co-workers and through a survey of the full membership. We have identified our priorities and created our written proposals to exchange with the employer.

We are looking for modest monetary improvements—and, as you identified to us, we want to put an end to management’s harassment and bullying. Some of our other priorities are leave entitlement improvements, shift differential and premium improvements, addressing violence in the workplace, job security, benefits improvements, and even distribution of extra hours and overtime. It was loud and clear that workload is a systemic issue in the workplace, and it must be addressed at the negotiating table.

Together we can and will push for the protections we deserve, but your negotiating team needs your frontline expertise to help steer the direction of our bargaining with St. Therese Villa. We need to be unified not just at the bargaining table, but also at the worksite.

You have kept residents and yourselves safe during the pandemic. You have worked hard in a high-stress environment to make sure residents receive the best care. You deserve better than disrespectful remarks from management. Your bargaining committee is fighting so your next collective agreement provides you with the dignity you deserve.

We want to thank you for your continued support. Reach out to your bargaining committee to get involved in the fight to win a fair contract.

Your AUPE Negotiations team.
Sherry Galbraith – sherrygalb@yahoo.ca
Amber Daub – amberdaub@hotmail.com
Nancy Seymour – gogirlnance@hotmail.ca

AUPE staff representatives
Christian Tetreault, Negotiator c.tetreault@aupe.org
Jon Milton, Communications j.milton@aupe.org