Employer finally gets to table, proposes even greater wage rollbacks
Your negotiating team met with the employer on Aug. 30 and 31 and were disappointed that they had changed their previous proposal for a one per cent wage rollback to proposing a four-per-cent rollback. When asked why our members were being offered a greater rollback than that tabled in negotiations with the United Nurses of Alberta, the employer’s negotiating team indicated they were recouping the one per cent increase awarded by the independent arbitrator in the last round of bargaining’s wage reopener.
The employer’s revised package proposes a four-per-cent rollback in the first year with zero- per-cent in each of three subsequent years. They amended their proposal to return to current language that allows for double overtime; however, their offer on shift differentials and weekend premiums still falls well below the rates in your current collective agreement.
These last eighteen months have been brutal. That the employer would make an already insulting offer even more insulting shows a profound disrespect to each one of you who kept health care facilities safe for Albertans through this extraordinary time. We remind Covenant Health that “Respect” is the second of the core values by which they profess to operate and hope to see more of it when we return to the table.
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
The union has filed grievances regarding the employer’s refusal to recognize the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sep. 30 as a Named Holiday as set out in our collective agreement. Your negotiating team took the opportunity when we met to express our displeasure at this decision.
Some Articles Signed Off
Despite remaining far apart on monetary items, we did manage to sign off on several non-monetary articles and Letters of Understanding with no change to the language in our current collective agreement.
Stay informed – fight back!
Your negotiating team is fighting hard to have job security language included in your collective agreement, but the employer is showing no sign of backing off their plans to contract out and privatize many of the vital services you provide. Conceding to their outrageous demands at the bargaining table is not going to change that reality. The only thing that might is if all members get involved with your union at your worksites and show the employer that you are prepared to fight to keep your jobs and continue to provide the high quality of support services that Albertans have grown to rely on.
Talk to your friends and family members about how turning over delivery of laundry and linen services, environmental services, laboratory services, and food services to profit-makers and putting you and your co-workers out of a job will do nothing to improve the province’s economic situation. Eliminating these jobs or driving down the wages of the workers who perform them means lower income tax revenue for the province and fewer dollars spent in struggling rural communities.
As we continue organizing for potential job action worksite-by-worksite, we know that the employer is merely marching to the beat set by Jason Kenney’s government. Your negotiating team strongly encourages you to contact your MLA and tell them (in polite and civil language, of course) that you oppose Jason Kenney’s relentless and ideological plan to privatize Alberta’s public health system piece by piece. Get your friends and family to do so, too. You can find your MLA’s contact information here.
Bargaining is scheduled to continue Oct. 19 and 20, 2021 and we will provide you with a further update at that time.
Please share this information with your co-workers and post it on union bulletin boards in your workplace. If you did not receive this update in your personal email, please go to aupe.org/user/register to sign up for bargaining and member updates.
If you have any questions about negotiations or this Bargaining Update, please reach out to a member of your negotiating team.
Covenant Health GSS Negotiating Team
Lorie Christenson, lcc44local40@hotmail.com
Corey Kucher, cjkucher@gmail.com
Christee Langkamp, christee7@gmail.com
AUPE Resource Staff
Chris Dickson, Negotiator - c.dickson@aupe.org
Jaime Urbina, Organizer – j.urbina@aupe.org
Margaret Kapuwa, Organizer – m.kapuwa@aupe.org
Mimi Williams, Communications - m.williams@aupe.org