|
November 18, 2004
For Immediate Release
Nurses accept deal with remaining long-term care Employers
Nurses have voted to accept mediator’s recommendations for a contract with the long-term care Employers who had not settled since the province-wide agreement was concluded last June 9th.
A strong majority of the nearly 500 nurses at the Locals voted for the agreement, which is approximately equivalent with the provincial deal. The main monetary items, salaries and premiums are exactly the same as the provincial agreement, giving the nurses salary increases of 3.5% in the first year and 3% in the second and third years of the contract.
“These nurses have waited over five months since their colleagues had their new agreement settled,” says UNA President Heather Smith. “In the end we have what is substantially the same agreement.”
“Registered nursing in long-term care must not be treated as something secondary,” Heather Smith said. “Albertans should be closely watching the standards of care we provide to our vulnerable citizens. They should be asking candidates about what’s happening to seniors. People in long-term care have to pay the biggest deductible going and at the same time the standards are dropping. I’m sure Albertans will not stand for reduced care for our elders.”
The collective agreement nurses accepted today will be retroactive to April 1, 2003 when the previous agreement expired. The nurses and the Employers are to inform the mediator by today if they accept the contract terms.
The Bethany Care Society continues to insist on bargaining separately for its Cochrane facility and was not included in the mediator’s recommendations. Earlier this month the Alberta Labour Relations Board asked the Society to go back to negotiations in good faith.
“We hope today’s deal will pave the way to a speedy settlement with Bethany Care for its Cochrane location as well,” Heather Smith said.
The long-term care facilities affected by the new agreement include most of those in Capital Care in Edmonton, the Bethany Care Society in Camrose and Calgary as well as St. Michael’s and St. Joseph’s in Edmonton and St. Michael’s in Lethridge. The Carewest Colonel Belcher in Calgary is also part of this Continuing Care Employers Bargaining Association (CCEBA) group.
| 
