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AUPE News & Updates
For immediate release: Friday, May 16, 2003
AUPE hospital support members ratify collective agreement
GRANDE PRAIRIE – Alberta Union of Provincial Employees support
services members at 17 hospitals have voted overwhelmingly to ratify
a second mediator’s report proposing a settlement for the group.
"The ability of AUPE members and negotiators to encourage the mediator
to recommend a fair deal that they could accept demonstrates the strength
of our union members and staff," said AUPE President Dan MacLennan.
MacLennan was in Grande Prairie Thursday for the ballot count at the
Queen Elizabeth II and Mackenzie Place worksites. Ballot counting was
completed late Thursday.
In April, the AUPE Local 056 bargaining team representing approximately
900 support workers at the 17 hospitals unanimously rejected as unfair
a mediator’s report recommending a settlement for the same workers.
Discussions among the employers, AUPE and the mediator ensued, resulting
in the improved recommendation being put forward by the mediator. The
bargaining committee unanimously recommended ratification of a second
mediator’s report.
Brian Randall, the AUPE Staff Negotiator who led the bargaining committee
for Local 056, said of the terms of settlement recommended in the second
mediator’s report: "this shows the bargaining committee and
the union did the right thing in April by unanimously deciding not to
send the first mediator’s report to members.
"Instead, they decided members’ concerns had to be met, and
the result was a dramatically improved agreement," Randall said.
"The result is an agreement that is clearly superior to those of
other unions in the region."
Employers must indicate to the mediator by today whether they have
ratified the agreement.
AUPE Local 056 represents general support employees at hospitals in
Bashaw, Boyle, Daysland, Drayton Valley, Grande Prairie, Grimshaw, Islay,
Killam, Lacombe, Lamont, Mayerthorpe, McLennan, Provost, Radway, Redwater,
Swan Hills, and Vermilion.
AUPE is Alberta’s largest union, with approximately 53,000 members
province wide.
For more information, contact:
Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-910-8392 (cellular
phone)
Brian Randall, Union Representative, AUPE, 780-624-7677 (AUPE Peace
River Office) or 780-618-8214 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943
(cellular phone)
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