Monetary items still outstanding
Enhanced mediation for Whitehorn Retirement Village is scheduled for three days in January: the 10th, 11th and 12th. The mediator will listen to both parties, and then will write recommendations on what he believes will settle the results for your first collective agreement. We hope the mediator recognizes how valuable the work you do is and that he recommends having your salaries and premiums reflect the median province wide. Once the mediator finalizes his recommendations, your committee will decide whether we put your collective agreement to a ratification vote. If the committee believes the recommendations are not in alignment with the current monetary entitlements for LPN’s and HCA’s we will move on to first contract arbitration.
We will have a clearer picture after our three days of enhanced mediation in January and will continue to update you and provide as much information as possible.
The Employer’s monetary proposal was offensive, especially with the recent settlements in the health care sector and first agreements that have been recently ratified. If the employer was willing to propose any increases to the monetary items, your committee would have had something to consider and get further feedback from the membership. Unfortunately, their entire monetary proposal was a few pennies on a three-step salary grid. No improvements to any other monetary entitlements whatsoever, it made our decision easy to move this to enhanced mediation.
Our overall goal through these entire negotiations is to make sure you are all compensated in alignment with the median pay in the province. Your monetary items need to be on a level playing field, considering the important and valuable work you do. As a reminder, below are some of the monetary items the mediator will be making recommendations on if the parties do not come to an agreement.
Other outstanding monetary items:
- Evening shift premium – Current $0.75 per hour – Proposed $3.00
- Night shift premium – Current $1.25 per hour – Proposed $5.00
- Weekend premium – Current $1.50 per hour – Proposed $3.25
The wages paid at the site are also woefully low. Health Care Aides make anywhere between $18.50 an hour (which is barely minimum wage) and $22.30 per hour. Our proposal brings you up to the median pay per hour in Alberta starting at $21.75 and topping out at $25.83.
Licensed Practical Nurses are in the same boat, making anywhere between $26.50 per hour up to $31.55. We are proposing a starting point of $26.45 per hour with a top step of $34.64.
As always, if you have any questions, please contact a member of our negotiating team.
AUPE NEGOTIATING TEAM – WHITEHORN RETIREMENT VILLAGE
Stacey Ryan-Chipman
staceyryanchipman@gmail.com Cell: 403-589-6688
Azebe Mamo
kumelazebe@yahoo.com Cell: 403-797-1621
Susan Kuriakose
susanplanchottil@yahoo.com Cell: 587-707-7859
AUPE RESOURCE STAFF
Christian Tetreault, Negotiations
c.tetreault@aupe.org
Michelle Szalynski, Organizing
m.szalynski@aupe.org
Alexander Delorme, Communications
a.delorme@aupe.org