UNA's Director of Labour Relations, David Harrigan, outlines the new regularization process to convert extra overtime, extra shift and casual hours into regular nursing positions. This ten-minute video gives an overview of the process which is taking place in joint union-employer committees at almost all nursing work places in Alberta.
Regularization Preliminary Data video
UNA's Director of Labour Relations David Harrigan discusses how the preliminary data about overtime and casual hours can help Local Joint Regularization Committees choose the work areas that will be looked at first in the process.
Nurses playing role in setting staffing
New "regularization" project gives UNA Locals say in creating nursing positions
It's a first for UNA. Starting this year, nurses will be taking part in a staffing process that aims to reduce reliance on overtime, extra shifts and casual hours. The process is called "regularization" and it comes out of a Letter of Understanding that UNA negotiated in the current provincial Collective Agreement (p. 151).
The province-wide project will identify worksites and units that use heavy overtime or extra hours and increase FTEs or post new positions to convert those hours into regular staff hours. "Regularizing" these hours will help control costs, and provide a big boost to continuity of care and also of course, to quality of care.
UNA also hopes that creating more positions and boosting FTEs will help to cut down mandatory overtime, and working short staffed, both of which are highly stressful for nurses.
Since November, a joint UNA-Alberta Health Services provincial steering committee has been developing a provincial process to undertake this "regularization". The official name is the Joint Workforce Regularization Provincial Project Steering Committee, or, the JWRP Provincial Committee.
The provincial steering committee has set up the process, but the actual work begins at the local level where joint union and employer JWRP committees will prioritize the units and areas to examine for extra hours, where regularization might bring the most benefit.
