St. Joseph’s GSS and ANC members to vote on proposed contract extension
EDMONTON – General Support Service and Auxiliary Nursing Care employees of St. Joseph’s Auxiliary Hospital will vote Thursday, July 27, on a one-year extension to their collective agreement that has been proposed by their employer.
An information meeting on the employer’s proposal for the close to 200 members of Local 047/015 of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees is taking place throughout the day today at the south-side Edmonton long-term care facility, AUPE Staff Negotiator Terry Agoto said.
The Local 047/015 Executive Committee reviewed the proposal earlier today and decided that it should be put to the members for a vote, Agoto said.
Today’s information meetings at St. Joseph’s Hospital are being held between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. in the Staff Lounge, he added. Voting will take place at the worksite July 27 between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. in the Education Room.
The proposed one-year contract extension would cover all General Support Service (GSS) employees of the hospital, a group that includes housekeeping and dietary employees, administrative staff, maintenance workers and trades people. The contract also covers all Auxiliary Nursing Care (ANC) employees of the hospital except Licensed Practical Nurses, who are members of the same local but who bargain at a separate table.
If accepted by the members, the proposal would extend the local’s agreement with St. Joseph’s until June 30, 2008, with no other changes to the terms of the existing contract, Agoto said.
Under the proposed extension, all GSS employees would receive a pay increase for the year of 3 per cent, on the grid.
In addition, the proposal calls for a minimum pay increase for ANC employees at the top of the pay grid of 3 per cent on the grid plus a 1-per-cent lump sum payment.
Agoto said the employer has 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.
“If this proposal is accepted by the members at St. Joseph’s on July 27, their agreement will be on the same bargaining schedule as approximately 15,000 other AUPE Health Sector members throughout Alberta,” Agoto said.
“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.
For more information, please contact:
Terry Agoto
Union Representative, AUPE
930-3346
Dorothy Butler
Local 047/015 ANC & GSS Chapter Chair
449-5436
Helen Savage
Local 047/015 ANC & GSS Chapter Vice-Chair
461-5630
Photo: AUPE Union Representative Terry Agoto speaks with Local 047/0165 members at St. Joseph’s Auxiliary Hospital on July 25.