Bow Island Health Centre employees vote for AUPE representation
BOW ISLAND – Employees at the Bow Island Health Centre working in General Support Service roles voted unanimously in favour of AUPE representation on Aug. 20 in an ALRB supervised vote.
“The employees at the Bow Island Health Centre have not previously enjoyed the benefits of union representation,” said AUPE Executive Secretary-Treasurer Bill Dechant. “We welcome the front-line health care workers to AUPE and we look forward to working with them to get members a better deal,” he added.
The unionization of Bow Island’s GSS workers by AUPE is part of an ongoing effort to help give non-union AHS workers the benefits of representation.
“AUPE has organized eleven similar worksites in the province from Rocky Mountain House to Elnora and Tofield. Members at these sites are seeing the benefits of union representation and we will continue our efforts to get fair deals for the few remaining non-union AHS worksites in Alberta.” Said Dechant.
When the Alberta government passed legislation in 2003 that combined all general support service and auxiliary nursing care bargaining units into single region-wide GSS and ANC units, non-union employees at a few small health centres and hospitals, like the GSS workers at the Bow Island Health Centre, were left out.
The agreement will see 34 new members join with AUPE. The employees include: maintenance workers, housekeeping, food services, unit clerks, laundry workers, cooks and other front line staff at the facility.
“We are happy to have the opportunity to bring the kind of benefits, security and democratic representation that the staff at Bow Island Health Centre deserve,” said Dechant.
Bow Island is located approximately 60 kilometres west of Medicine Hat.
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For more information:
Bill Dechant, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, AUPE – 780-930-3302
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE – 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)