AUPE and Capital Health Region reach tentative agreement for 5,000 support workers
EDMONTON – The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees and the Capital Health Region reached a tentative agreement today in bargaining for a new three-year collective agreement for approximately 5,000 general support service employees.
If ratified by members of AUPE Local 054 on July 20, the agreement will result in across-the-board pay increases of nine per cent for all classes of general support service (GSS) employees over the life of the contract.
“This is a significant agreement,” AUPE President Dan MacLennan said today. “It marks the first time our negotiators have bargained an agreement to replace one of the ‘receiving agreements’ that had to be negotiated after the Legislature passed a law consolidating health region collective agreements in 2003.
“In addition, it’s important that the pay increases included in this tentative agreement apply to all classes of GSS employees, including housekeeping and dietary workers who have encountered resistance to fair treatment by employers in recent rounds of negotiations,” he said.
“This tentative agreement also includes several important improvements in areas other than pay,” MacLennan said.
Under the terms of the agreement, said AUPE Staff Negotiator Greg Maruca, all members will see a pay increase of three per cent, plus retroactive pay to April 1, 2005, on their paycheques after the agreement is ratified.
The agreement calls for additional pay increases of two per cent on April 1, 2006, one per cent on Oct. 1, 2006, two per cent on April 1, 2007 and one per cent on Oct. 1, 2007. The agreement expires on March 31, 2008.
Maruca said the agreement said also includes significant improvements in vacation and short-term disability insurance entitlements for all employees,
A full information package will be available for members before the ratification vote, which is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, July 20, at workplaces throughout the Capital Health Region.
The parties exchanged proposals on May 24 just before the region-wide receiving agreement expired on May 31. The negotiations were made easier because many technical issues had been settled in negotiations leading up to the receiving agreement, which was signed by AUPE and the Edmonton-area health region on May 17.
The receiving agreement, which consolidated 11 collective agreements by three unions into a single region-wide agreement, was ratified by the members on March 31.
Among the improvements in that agreement, Maruca said, were:
- Significant improvements in vacation allotments for full-time employees.
- Improved layoff and recall language.
- “Green circling” provisions to ensure employees moved to lower job classifications continue to receive negotiated wage increases for two years, then have their pay frozen at the higher rate.
- An earlier start of 3 p.m. on Friday for payment of the $1.75-per-hour weekend premium rate.
- Improved dental benefits for employees of Alberta Hospital Edmonton.
GSS employees include clerical staff, building maintenance workers, housekeeping, dietary and laundry employees.
Meanwhile, negotiations began June 21 between AUPE and the Calgary Health Region for a collective agreement to replace the receiving agreement ratified by GSS members in that city. AUPE Local 095 represents approximately 5,200 GSS employees in Calgary.
Negotiations also continue for a receiving agreement for all GSS employees in the Peace Country, Aspen, David Thompson and East Central Health Regions; for all auxiliary nursing care (ANC) employees of the Calgary Health Region; and, at a single table, for all ANC employees of Alberta’s remaining eight health regions.
More information on those negotiations can be found on AUPE’s Website – www.aupe.org.
For more information, contact:
Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-232-8392 (cellular phone)
Greg Maruca, Union Representative, AUPE, 780-930-3358 or 780-982-1148 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)