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January 26, 2007
Negotiations started January 23
Contract negotiations started Tuesday, January 23 with the exchange of proposals between the UNA Negotiating Committee and the health region representatives. For the first time in recent memory the employers brought in an in-going monetary proposal to the talks.
An overview of the Employers’ proposals is available on UNA Net or from your Local Executive. A summary of both UNA’s and the Health Regions’ proposals will also be coming out in the next UNA NewsBulletin.
“These talks are critical to getting, and keeping, the nurses our health system needs,” says UNA President Heather Smith. “We need innovative ways to deal with the shortage and we are looking forward to constructive talks that make real progress.”
The Negotiating Committee booked 29 separate dates to negotiate and the goal is to reach a settlement by the time the contract expires on March 31, 2007.
For Negs information
UNA and HBA Services agreed to focus all energy at the bargaining table and not to raise major issues in the news media. The parties issued a joint news release about starting the talks. Public release of information about negotiations will be limited.
The UNA website www.una.ab.ca will have limited public information about the progress of negotiations. More detailed information is available through UNA’s UNA Net electronic email and conferencing system or by checking with your UNA Local representatives who will have the latest email update.
Every member can get a free UNA Net account. Go to the Members Area on the UNA website (www.una.ab.ca) for more information and to register for your own account.
Or you can call the Negotiations Fact Line at 1-800-804-4541 (In Edmonton area 496-9262.
Reminding Albertans about the important work of RNs and RPNs
UNA currently has its largest ad campaign of recent years running on buses, rapid transit trains and billboards around the province. The slogan is “It takes Registered nurses for safe health care”.
The campaign reminds Albertans who UNA is and that nurses care about patients. It also helps to remind the Alberta government and HBA Services that we are ready to go public.
The transit posters will be up in Edmonton, Calgary, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat until February 4 or so. The billboards are going up at the end of January in Red Deer and in many rural locations and should have quite a local impact over four weeks.
The ads feature three UNA members, Luke Wong and Sheila Jensen who both work at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton and Deb Adams-Druar who works in homecare nursing in Edmonton.
Spotlight on your contract
Exchanging shifts
Be specific in your written request including any change to days of rest
Nurses who exchange shifts that include their days of rest should also note any change to their days of rest. The written request to exchange a shift must include a request to move any affected days of rest.
For example, a nurse who normally would work Friday and has Saturday as a designated day of rest, or day off, agrees to exchange with a co-worker. The nurse will be off on the Friday and work the Saturday shift for the co-worker. The nurse should be clear the day of rest is moved to the Friday.
Watch for the UNA Spotlight poster for more details on exchanging shifts.
New minister says no return to “Third Way” health plans
In January, new Health and Wellness Minister Dave Hancock said the Third Way plan for health care privatization and private health insurance would not be coming back on to the agenda. “Tories ditch the Third Way” read the headline in the Edmonton Journal.
The change of heart drew attention across the country. The Medical Reform Group, based in Ontario said the announcement was good news.
“Whether his reasons are political expediency or a realization that publicly funded health care is not only more equitable, but more efficient doesn’t really matter,” said another MRG spokesperson, Dr. Gordon Guyatt. “This is good news for Albertans – and the change of heart is good news for all Canadians.”
“There is still the stealthy privatization of for-profit clinics offering queue-jumping for the rich to deal with,” said MRG’s Dr. Ahmed Bayoumi. “But the Alberta experience suggests that politicians are waking up to the fact that publicly funded health care delivered by not-for-profit providers is best for Canada.”
Nurses took hit with SARS: Commission final report
Health workers were left with too little protection, according to the final report of the SARS Commission that was released January 9th. Two nurses died and many more infected in the Toronto outbreak in the spring of 2004. The 1,204-page report entitled “Spring of Fear,” suggested health-care workers would have been better protected if occupational health experts were involved during the virus outbreak. Forty-five per cent of Ontario’s 375 SARS cases were health-care workers.
Casuals can cancel shifts
Casuals and employers can cancel casual shifts right up to the time the shift starts, says a new Joint Communication from UNA and HBA Services. But the document urges both nurses and employers to minimize cancellations and “consider the impact of their decisions.” The statement also says that communicating changes to scheduled shifts as far in advance in possible will help to maintain good relations. Copies of the Joint Communication are available from UNA Offices or from UNA Local Executives.
On the lighter side
I am five feet, three inches tall and pleasingly plump. After I had a minor accident, my mother accompanied me to the emergency room. The ER nurse asked for my height and weight, and I blurted out, “Five-foot-eight, 125 pounds.”
While the nurse pondered over this information, my mother leaned over to me. “Sweetheart,” she gently chided, “this is not the Internet.”
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