For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2003

EDMONTON — General support service employees in the Peace Country and East Central health regions chose the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees as their union in representation runoff votes counted today.

Today’s votes come on top of the historic Bill 27 runoff votes counted yesterday, in which thousands of general support service employees in Edmonton and Calgary chose AUPE as their union.

In all four government-mandated runoff votes counted so far, the only other union on the ballot was the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). Two more votes between AUPE and CUPE are to be counted by the Alberta Labour Relations Board tomorrow.

“We are gratified and humbled by the support being shown throughout Alberta for our union,” AUPE President Dan MacLennan said this morning.

“We now know that we will be welcoming about 5,000 new members to our union as a result of the votes counted yesterday and today,” MacLennan said. “We are determined to do everything we can to make these new members feel welcome and valued in AUPE.”

In the Peace Country Health Region in northwest Alberta, which includes the communities of Grande Prairie and
Peace River, there were 359 votes for AUPE and 177 for CUPE. Two ballots were spoiled.

More than 67 per cent of the votes in the region went to AUPE.

In the East Central Health Region around Camrose, there were 160 votes for AUPE and 85 for CUPE. One ballot was spoiled.

About 65 per cent of the votes in the region went to AUPE.

Union runoff votes were held this summer between AUPE and CUPE affecting more than 13,000 health region general support service employees throughout Alberta. Ballots had to be mailed back to the Alberta Labour Relations Board by eligible health region employees.

As a result of the four regional votes counted so far, AUPE will be the union for more than 800 general support services employees in the Peace Country, about 380 in East Central Alberta, approximately 5,000 in the Calgary area and 4,800 in the Edmonton region.

(AUPE stood to lose more than 6,000 members in the votes counted so far.)

Members of AUPE, CUPE, the Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA) and the International Union of Operating Engineers who worked in general support jobs were entitled to vote.

Today’s vote counts marked the second of three days of ballot counting by the Labour Relations Board in the Bill 27 runoff process.

Tomorrow starting at 9 a.m., ballots will be counted from the David Thompson Health Region and Aspen Health Region runoff votes.

The votes were mandated by Bill 27 — provincial legislation passed last March that restructured labour relations in Alberta’s nine health regions.

In another Bill 27 runoff vote, counted on Sept. 10, more than 750 auxiliary nursing care employees in the East Central Health Region voted overwhelmingly to be represented by AUPE. That result confirmed AUPE as the sole union for auxiliary nursing staff in all nine Alberta health regions.

AUPE now represents all 8,500 auxiliary nursing care employees of Alberta’s nine health regions.
Ballots are being counted at the Labour Relations Board headquarters in Edmonton.

AUPE now faces the complicated task of negotiating new region-wide collective agreements from the existing agreements in each health region.

For more information, contact:
Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-232-8392 (NEW cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)