Bargaining Update: Friday, Jan. 21, 2005

EDMONTON — A report by a provincially appointed mediator recommending a settlement between AUPE and the Capital Health Region in negotiations for a region-wide collective agreement for the region’s General Support Service employees is expected by the end of January.

After four days of mediation, Dec. 20-21 and Jan. 18-19, members of AUPE’s Local 054 Capital Health Region GSS Bargaining Committee are now waiting to see what Mediator Michael Necula will recommend for the more than 5,000 employees, said Staff Negotiator Greg Maruca.

“ We expect that ballots will be mailed to members by mid-February to give the membership the opportunity to accept or reject the mediator’s recommendations,” Maruca said.
“ Members would have three weeks to mark and return their ballots.”

Bargaining teams for AUPE and the Capital Health Region met in bargaining from Oct. 26 to Oct. 29 but were unable to reach a new merged agreement for all the region’s GSS employees, as required by Labour Relations (Regional Health Authorities Restructuring) Amendment Act passed in 2003.

Under the legislation, still widely known as Bill 27, the bargaining teams must consolidate 11 agreements between the Capital Health Region and several unions into a single region-wide “receiving agreement” for all GSS employers.

Too far apart

“ The employer had several issues on which we were too far apart to agree,” said Maruca.

“ The union bargaining team felt we had gone as far as we could without the assistance of a third party.”

As a result, he explained, AUPE requested the appointment of a mediator at that time under Section 14 of the Regional Health Authority Collective Bargaining Regulation.

The Alberta Labour Relations Board then appointed Necula as mediator.

During mediation, the parties signed off articles dealing with long-service employees at the Royal Alexandra Hospital and on how to treat employees holding multiple positions.

But other important issues remained unresolved and the mediator was then asked to write a report.

Key issues still outstanding include:

• * Definitions of Casual Employee — the employer wants to make it more difficult for casual employees working extended periods of time to be declared part time, which would allow them to receive benefits.
  * ayoff and Recall — the employer wants to allow bumping within your series at your homesite while the union’s position is bumping within the group, which would give long-service employees more opportunities to remain employed.
  * Hours of Work and Extended Hours of Work— the current receiving agreement chosen by employees allows 20-minute coffee breaks and the employer wants 15-minute breaks.
  * Named Holidays — the employer wants to take away up to two days off that are available to members who came under the old Community Health Agreement.
  * Prepaid Health Benefits (Alberta Hospital Edmonton) — the employer wishes to move employees to the Health Benefit Core Plan on March 30, making employees pay for some benefits now paid by the employer.
  * Leave of Absence — the employer wants to take away available personal family leave days off that are included in both old Community health agreements.

Next round of negotiations

All the collective agreements being merged into the Receiving Agreement now being negotiated are set to expire on March 31, 2005, Maruca said.

That in turn means that the Receiving Agreement on which the mediator will issue his report next week will also expire on that date.

As a result, notice to bargain the next region-wide Collective Agreement must be filed by the end of January, Maruca said.

Last fall, the Local 054 Council elected Jim Shelley from the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Daniel Nobis from the Sturgeon Hospital, Colin Carmichael from Leduc, Alecia Hinton from the Glenrose and Tonya Malo from the University of Alberta Hospital to be the bargaining committee for this next round of negotiations.

The new committee met on Jan. 7 to develop a survey form that will be distributed to members for this upcoming round of bargaining.