EDMONTON – The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees will begin bargaining Wednesday for a new single contract for nearly 1,000 community health services members in eight health regions.

"This important contract is a key component of AUPE’s complex and challenging round of health care bargaining this spring," said AUPE President Dan MacLennan today.

"This spring we will be negotiating more than 30 separate agreements for approximately 19,000 health care workers throughout Alberta," MacLennan said. "This is one of the major groups in that overall round of bargaining."

AUPE Union Representative Malcolm McNaughton said the community health services bargaining will result in a new province-wide multi-employer agreement for home support aides, licensed practical nurses, clerical workers, dental health assistants, registered dental health assistants, and other professional and technical staff in the Aspen, Lakeland, Crossroads, East Central, Headwaters, Keeweetinok Lakes, Peace and Westview health regions.

McNaughton, a seasoned negotiator who will lead the bargaining team in this round of negotiations, said AUPE and the Provincial Health Authorities of Alberta, the umbrella employer negotiating group that represents the health regions, will begin negotiations on Wednesday.

Additional meeting dates will be scheduled after that.

As with many of AUPE’s other health sector contracts, the community health agreement expires on March 31, 2002.

AUPE and the PHAA have agreed to use the conceptual bargaining model similar to the process used by the United Nurses of Alberta in their last round of bargaining, McNaughton noted.

"Reaching agreements that treat these important health care workers fairly and equitably will be the key to success in these specific negotiations and in this whole round of bargaining," MacLennan said.

"Our members all make important contributions to the Alberta health care system and it is important that they are treated fairly, in a manner consistent with the treatment of other components in the health sector," he said.

"We have been concerned as we enter this round of bargaining that some employers may be attempting to pigeonhole employees according to misleading estimates of the market value of certain job categories," MacLennan said.

"The key issue now should be to ensure that every member of the health care team is treated fairly," MacLennan stated.

"Simple fairness and society’s expectation that the health system will operate smoothly demands that we not hand fair raises to some groups of employees and refuse similar gains to other groups," he said.


For more information, contact:
Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-910-8392 (cellular phone)
Malcolm McNaughton, Union Representative, AUPE, 403-343-2154 or 403-304-8245 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)

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