Bargaining goes to mediation; members force AHS to pull back some cuts

Your AHS General Support Services negotiating team met with AHS on Monday, April 11 to resume bargaining. This followed three successful telephone town halls your team hosted in response to AHS’s unacceptable proposals.

Your negotiating team could not agree with AHS’s proposals on wages and employment security. As a result, your team and AHS agreed to ask for the help of a neutral mediator to see if we can come to an agreement.

Mediators are neutral in negotiations and look at the evidence and logic that supports each side’s proposals. Your team is confident that our proposals—such as increasing our wages—are backed up by evidence, most obviously the skyrocketing cost of living. We are cautiously optimistic that mediation will help us secure an improved collective agreement.  

Mediation is a process that doesn’t happen overnight. We will first have to find a mediator and then set up dates with them to go over our proposals. Your team will update you when we have more details on mediation.

Articles that will remain in place as-is

Your united voice has rung loud and clear throughout bargaining. As a result, AHS took back many cuts they were proposing. This is an example of what your solidarity can do and what your negotiating team can accomplish with your support.

Below are the Articles we agreed would stay current.

• Article 20 – Hours of Work 
• Article 21 – Extended Hours of Work 
• Article 22 – Overtime: AHS wanted to remove super-stat pay, including triple-time on Christmas and August long weekend. 
• Article 26 – Shift and Weekend Differential 
• Article 28 – Annual Vacation 
• Letter of Understanding 22 – Workload Appeal Process

We must remember, however, that these Articles are remaining current. In other words, there are no improvements to these articles. We should not rush to thank AHS for simply taking back their proposals.

Improvements we signed off on

Your team also signed off on improving:

• Article 9 – Discipline, Dismissal, and Termination: We made improvements to this Article. Your team believes it is critical that members who are called into investigation meetings know what the investigation is about beforehand, including who made the complaint. 
• Letter of Understanding 5 – Remote or Hybrid Work Arragement Agreement: We modernized this antiquated letter of understanding so that it better addresses our current situation. Most obviously, it no longer refers to “teleworking.”

Lamont Health Care Centre

Members working at Lamont Health Care Centre are being amalgamated into the AHS GSS collective agreement this round of bargaining. We were able to sign off on the necessary Lamont Health Care Centre Local conditions to make this happen, including:

• Hours of work and Extended Hours of Work  
• Staff Development and Meetings 
• Casual and Temporary employees 
• Named Holidays 
• Employee Benefits 
• Layoff and Recall 
• Letters of Understanding for Employment in multiple positions,  
• Education Bursaries and Return Service Agreements.

What happens next

Your negotiating team will let you know when we have more information to share about mediation and timelines.

We will continue fighting for wages, job security, an end to contracting out, and improvements to our benefits, such as our flex spending accounts.

We want to thank all members for your patience and solidarity. We also want to thank those of you who participated in our telephone town halls and made your voices heard.

Don’t miss any future bargaining updates. Make sure AUPE has your up-to-date contact information by visiting www.aupe.org/update-info

Please contact your Local Bargaining Committee representative or AUPE Resource Staff if you have any questions.

AUPE Negotiating Team - AHS GSS  
Local 054
Julie Woodford - juliew.chp006@gmail.com
Charity Hill (A) - charity.johanson@gmail.com
Local 056
Tammy Lanktree – local56.bargaining@outlook.com
Juanita Cozicar (A) – jcozicar@telus.net
Local 057
Wendy Kicia - wendykicia@hotmail.com
Janice Drader (A) – draderjanice@gmail.com
Local 058
Anton Schindler - waterdude69@gmail.com
Dave Ibach (A) - d1322j@gmail.com
Local 095
James Sullivan - sullivanlocal95@gmail.com
Anna Silva (A) – a.silva100@outlook.com
Lamont Health Care Centre GSS
Carol Palichuk - carolpalichuk@hotmail.com
 
AUPE Resource Staff for AHS GSS  
Chris Dickson, Lead Negotiator - c.dickson@aupe.org  
Jason Rattray, Negotiator - j.rattray@aupe.org  
Kate Robinson, Negotiator – k.robinson@aupe.org
Tracy Noble, Edmonton-North Organizer – t.noble@aupe.org  
Margaret Kapuwa, Central Organizer – m.kapuwa@aupe.org  
Jaime Urbina, Calgary-South Organizer – j.urbina@aupe.org
Alexander Delorme, Communications - a.delorme@aupe.org