For immediate release: Mar. 28, 2003

EDMONTON – Members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees who work for the Alberta Mental Health Board have overwhelmingly ratified new collective agreements.

The Alberta Mental Health Board has also ratified the agreements.

Negotiators for AUPE Local 042 and the AMHB reached tentative agreement March 14 on new contracts for most of the board’s 2,500 employees in general support services, auxiliary nursing, professional and technical services, and nursing. A tentative agreement was reached March 24 for nurses at Alberta Hospital Ponoka.

Votes by AUPE members employed at Alberta Hospital Ponoka, Alberta Hospital Edmonton, facilities in Raymond and Claresholm and community mental health clinics throughout the province took place this week, with ballots counted late Thursday.

Members of all units have now ratified their tentative collective agreements with the AMHB, said AUPE Staff Negotiator Mike Boyle, who led negotiations with the board.

The board ratified the agreements Friday morning.

Boyle said the details of the collective agreements are complex, but generally follow the patterns set in other recently signed health sector agreements in the same job categories – general support services, auxiliary nursing, professional and technical, and nursing.

The agreements will continue as AUPE members’ collective agreements with the nine Alberta health regions when the services provided by the board are transferred to the regions in four days, on April 1.

For more information, contact:

Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-910-8392 (cellular phone)
Mike Boyle, Staff Negotiator, AUPE, 780-930-3346 or 780-913-3955 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)