For immediate release: Wednesday, May 14, 2003

EDMONTON – Employers represented by the Continuing Care Employers Bargaining Association have now ratified a mediator’s recommendation for a new collective agreement with the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees.

The employers ratified the agreement on Tuesday, May 13. AUPE auxiliary nursing members at continuing-care facilities in Edmonton, Calgary and Lethbridge ratified the two-year agreement on May 2.

"This means our members at these facilities can now start enjoying the benefits of the agreement their bargaining committee has negotiated," said AUPE President Dan MacLennan.

One of the benefits will be retroactive pay to July 1, 2002, which AUPE expects the approximately 1,350 employees who come under the agreement to receive some time in June, said AUPE Staff Negotiator Terry Agoto.

Other improvements in the contract include:
• Pay increases of four per cent in the first year and three per cent in the second year.
• Education increments for nursing attendants with certain certificates.
• A direct-payment health benefits card.
• Preceptor pay – a premium paid to licensed practical nurses who help train student LPNs.
• Double-time overtime.
• Increases in weekend premium pay and shift differential pay to $1.75 per hour.

A provincially appointed mediator recommended terms of settlement in the negotiations in early April after the AUPE members overwhelmingly rejected a "final offer" by the employer negotiating group.

Unlike the so-called final offer CCEBA made in March, the mediator’s proposal was essentially the same in most important respects as AUPE’s Multi-Facility Auxiliary Nursing Agreement, Agoto said. "That’s what our members wanted at this time and that’s what they deserved."

In addition, Agoto noted, several concessions sought by the employer in the final offer were removed from the mediator’s report.

The AUPE bargaining committee recommended that members ratify the improved settlement put forward by the mediator, stated Agoto, who led the union bargaining committee.

The AUPE members work as licensed practical nurses, personal care attendants, nursing attendants, physiotherapy attendants, recreation attendants, occupational therapy attendants and clinic attendants who come under the CCEBA agreement.

Their employers include the Capital Care Group, which is a subsidiary of Region 6, the Capital Health Region; St. Joseph’s Auxiliary Hospital (Edmonton); St. Michael’s Long Term Care Centre (Edmonton); Bethany Care Society (Calgary); and St. Michael’s Health Centre (Lethbridge).

AUPE is Alberta’s largest union, with approximately 53,000 members. AUPE represents approximately 21,000 members in front-line health care jobs.

For more information, contact:
Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-910-8392 (cellular phone)
Terry Agoto, Staff Negotiator, AUPE, 780-930 3309 or 780-720-2226 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)