Shepherd’s Care Millwoods Manor and Southside Manor staff ratify first collective agreement
EDMONTON – AUPE-represented Home Care and General Support Services workers in Edmonton ratified their first collective agreement Wednesday, Feb. 25 with their employer Shepherd’s Care Foundation.
The three-year agreement, based on a mediator’s recommended terms of settlement, ends a protracted round of bargaining with Shepherd’s Care at two Edmonton continuing care facilities, Millwoods Manor and Southside Manor.
“Our GSS members at Southside Manor and Millwoods Manor believed the mediator’s recommended terms of settlement were fair and showed their support for it in a ballot at their worksites yesterday,” said Staff Negotiator John Wevers.
“This agreement will bring these members’ wages and benefits into the current labour market by matching for the most part what has been negotiated at similar facilities in the Edmonton area,” he said.
The agreement delivers wage improvements of more than 15 per cent over the three-year term of the agreement. Also included, effective the date of ratification, is shift differential pay of $1.50/hr for evenings (rising to $2.50/hr by year three), $1.50/hr for nights (rising to $3.00/hr by year three), and $1.25/hr for weekends (increasing to $2.25 by year three).
The agreement also includes other benefit improvements including a $250 annual Flexible Health Spending Account, a 3 per cent employer-matched RSP program, $50 reimbursement for safety footwear, and a kilometre-based reimbursement for use of a personal vehicle for employer business.
In addition, there is a $250 retention bonus for full-time employees who were employed as of the certification date and remain employed for 30 days after ratification, and a $500 annual employer contribution to an employee social fund.
The new agreement expires on June 30, 2011.
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For more information contact:
John Wevers, Staff Negotiator, AUPE – 780-930-3349 (office), 780-232-9820 (cellular)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE – 780-930-3311 (office), 780-717-2943