New collective agreement ratified by Bethany Group, Camrose members
CAMROSE – AUPE Local 047/002 members employed by the Bethany Group in the Camrose area have ratified a new, three-year collective agreement that will take effect April 1, 2009.
The agreement improves wages and benefits to match those settled in AUPE’s provincial multi-health region agreements for approximately 500 employees at the Bethany Group’s Rosehaven Care Centre long-term care facility, Rosealta Lodge and Stony Creek Lodge in Camrose, and the Bashaw Valley Lodge.
“This agreement brings well-deserved and much-needed wage and benefit increases to Bethany Group employees,” said AUPE Staff Negotiator Malcolm McNaughton.
“Our members in Camrose and Bashaw are also happy to have settled a new agreement before their existing agreement expired – a first for this bargaining unit,” he added.
The new agreement will provide a 5-per-cent wage increase as of April 1, 2009, followed by “wage-reopeners” in the second and third year of the agreement. (In a wage-reopener the union and employer agree to negotiate wages while leaving other provisions of the collective agreement intact.) Shift and weekend differentials match those found in the provincial Auxiliary Nursing Care and General Support Services agreements.
Benefit enhancements include improvements to paid holidays, among them double-time pay for work on Christmas day and the August civic holiday, annual vacation equivalent to vacation terms in the provincial multi agreements (Rosehaven employees only) and five days supplementary vacation for employees with 25 years of service. The enhancements also include leave of absence terms that match those found in the provincial agreements and an increase in bereavement leave to five days.
Other benefit improvements include a $500 annual Health Benefit Spending Account (prorated for part-time staff) and dental plan maximums that have been increased to $2,500 for major and orthodontic services.
The Bethany Group, Camrose agreement will expire after March 12, 2012.
30