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For Immediate Release
Tuesday, September 9, 2003
UNA disappointed Health Regions want to force a dangerous agreement on to nurses with arbitration
UNA members to vote on recommendations September 15
Negotiations continue September 18
United Nurses of Alberta negotiators are disappointed that the Health Regions have applied for compulsory arbitration of the contract for the province’s 20,000 Registered nurses.
“This will not lead to an agreement,” says UNA President Heather Smith. “There will be no collective agreement without the agreement of nurses, that’s what bargaining is about. The Health Regions are attempting to force nurses into a contract that is dangerous for nurses, for our patients and our health system.”
She points out that nurses completely agree with the Health Regions who said, “We believe the best agreements are negotiated rather than imposed." last year when the Health Sciences Association bargaining went to arbitration.
“The Health Regions are attempting to bring the talks to an impasse and provoke a crisis,” says Heather Smith. “There is no crisis. We’ve been negotiating, we worked through a mediator who brought out a completely one-sided and unacceptable report, and now we have to go back into talks to try further,” she said.
The negotiators have set down September 18 as the next date for bargaining, but the Employers have refused to set further dates. Heather Smith notes that the nurses will be bringing forward new proposals. The provincial Labour Code makes it mandatory for the parties to continue to negotiate in good faith and attempt to reach a deal.
Nurses across Alberta are preparing to vote on the mediator’s recommendations on Monday, September 15. Their provincial negotiating committee has already rejected the proposal and is urging United Nurses of Alberta members to vote to reject it as well.
“We need to dispel any possible delusion that the recommendations are a workable plan for nurses,” Heather Smith said.
“This is NOT a strike vote, we are not planning a strike,” she says. “Real negotiations could reach a mutually acceptable contract. So far the Employers seem to believe that they can ram whatever they want through. That’s no way to make progress in our health system, I can tell you.”
“I’ve heard from many nurses who say that if the recommendations were to become the reality they would retire or look for work elsewhere, largely in the U.S. This is already happening, we have nurses leaving because they believe conditions are going to get even worse in Alberta.
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