St. Joseph’s GSS and ANC members ratify contract extension
EDMONTON – General Support Service and Auxiliary Nursing Care employees of St. Joseph’s Auxiliary Hospital represented by the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees voted yesterday to approve a one-year extension to their collective agreement that includes a pay increase of at least 3 per cent.
The members of AUPE Local 047/015 voted throughout the day at the south-side Edmonton long-term care facility, said AUPE Union Representative Terry Agoto.
The contract extension for the approximately 200 AUPE members was proposed last week by the employer and reviewed early this week by the chapter’s executive, which decided to put it to a vote. Worksite information meetings for members were held throughout the day on Tuesday.
The one-year contract extension covers all General Support Service (GSS) employees of the hospital, a group that includes housekeeping and dietary employees, administrative staff, maintenance workers and trades people. In addition it covers all Auxiliary Nursing Care (ANC) employees of the hospital except Licensed Practical Nurses, who are members of the same chapter but bargain at a separate table.
The ratification vote extends the collective agreement with St. Joseph’s until June 30, 2008, with no other changes to the terms of the existing contract, Agoto said.
Under the extension, all GSS employees will now receive a pay increase for the year of 3 per cent, on the grid, and ANC employees at the top of the pay grid will get a pay increase of 3 per cent on the grid plus a 1-per-cent lump sum payment.
Under the contract extension, the employer also agreed to bring the pay of all ANC employees into line with the pay of employees of the Capital Care Group who do the same work. This will result in pay increases as high as 8.1 per cent for ANC employees not already at the top rate on the grid.
“This contract extension for AUPE’s members at St. Joseph’s has the important effect of bringing them onto the same bargaining schedule as approximately 15,000 other AUPE Health Sector members throughout Alberta,” Agoto said today.
“These include Auxiliary Nursing Care employees who are part of the Multi-Employer ANC Agreement, which includes Capital Health Region ANC employees, as well as with General Support Service employees of the Capital Health Region, plus ANC and GSS employees of the Capital Care Group,” he said.
“We expect this to strengthen the bargaining position of this group of employees, as well as health sector workers throughout the province,” he concluded.
For more information, contact:
Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-232-8392 (cellular phone)
Terry Agoto, Union Representative, AUPE, 780-930-3346 or 780-720-2226 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)
Photo: AUPE members at St. Joseph’s Auxiliary Hospital in Edmonton voted throughout the day July 27 on a one-year contract extension. AUPE President Dan MacLennan dropped by to meet members.