EDMONTON – In separate votes Thursday, staff at one small hospital voted to have the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees as their bargaining agent while AUPE members at another voted to join another union.

Auxiliary nursing care staff at the Mannville Health Centre in Manville, east of Edmonton, voted 100 per cent for certification of AUPE as their bargaining agent.

Meanwhile, support workers at the Westview Health Centre in Stony Plain, west of Edmonton, voted 58 per cent to join another union.

"We’re pleased with the vote in Mannville, but we are very disheartened that our members in Stony Plain have voted to be represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees," said AUPE President Dan MacLennan.

"Nevertheless, we have said many times that we believe working people should have a right to choose which union represents them, and we wish our members in Stony Plain well," MacLennan said.

"This is the decision of the members and we back their right to make that decision, even when it doesn’t go our way," he said. "We have won about 15 of these votes in the past two or three years and now we have lost one.

"But they also know that, at some point in the future, they will be welcomed back in AUPE if they choose to return."

Over the past several years, many CUPE members at health care facilities in Alberta have approached AUPE, seeking to become members of this union. In several highly publicized recent cases, the workers have voted in balloting supervised by the Alberta Labour Relations Board to join AUPE.

"We remain confident that most health care employees – like the members in Mannville – see AUPE as the union of choice in health care in Alberta, and we remain committed to negotiating the best collective agreements in health care in this province," he stated.

For more information, contact:
Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 780-930-33o1 or 780-910-8392 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)

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