March 30, 2005
The UNA provincial Executive Board voted unanimously to take the offer from health Employers to extend the provincial agreement to the members for consideration. At a special meeting held on March 29th, the Board also unanimously recommended acceptance of the offer.
On Friday, March 18 UNA received a letter from the Health Boards of Alberta Services (HBA) offering to extend the provincial agreement for one year, to March 31, 2007. The offer would increase basic rates of pay by three per cent for the year, but would keep the rest of the agreement exactly as it is.
“There are some good reasons for extending the contract, and holding off the next round of negotiations for a year,” UNA President Heather Smith said after the meeting. “For one thing, we’ve just begun to work with our new contract – it took over two years to negotiate it. Members are just getting the booklets now.”
Finally, she noted that it will be up to the members to decide whether to extend the agreement. “Members need to weigh this extension against what we would want, or could expect to achieve, through negotiations.”
The Executive Board voted to call a special delegate meeting to discuss the extension offer. That meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 19th in Edmonton. Affected Locals will be holding meetings to discuss the extension offer before April 19th.
If the delegate meeting also endorses the extension, a full ratification vote of all affected members will be necessary.
“We are at the top in almost all areas of the collective agreement,” said Board member Denise Palmer, who is chair of the South Central District. “The three per cent salary increase would keep Alberta at the highest rates of all the provinces. Extending the agreement would keep it overall the best in the country,” she said after the Board meeting.
The offer came from HBA, which was formerly known as the Provincial Health Authorities of Alberta (PHAA). HBA represents the Health Regions and Employers covered by the provincial agreement.
UNA has contacted the other Employers included in provincial bargaining to ask what their position would be on an extension.
UNA’s Director of Labour Relations David Harrigan contacted all of the other Employers in provincial bargaining to ask what their position would be on an extension. Capital Care, St. Michael’s Lethbridge, St. Michael’s Edmonton, St Joseph’s Edmonton, Youville Home Edmonton, the Bethany Care Society (Calgary and Cochrane), Alberta Cancer Board, Bethany Group (Camrose) and CareWest Col. Belcher have all indicated that they are interested in the same one year extension and 3% wage increase, subject to ratification by their Boards.
Only two Employers also in provincial bargaining have not yet confirmed their position: the Good Samaritan Society, and Millwoods Shepherds Care.
Ontario nurses waiting for arbitration ruling on contract
Mediation between the participating hospitals and the Ontario Nurses’ Association’s central negotiating team broke down early in February and some of the key issues in the talks are going to arbitration.
The mediation process was similar to the one that worked here in Alberta last year. An arbitration panel first attempted to mediate. The priority issues around wages, benefits, vacation, premiums and job security remain outstanding. It will be left to the Board of Arbitration to make a final and binding resolution on those issues.
ONA is still waiting to hear when the arbitration process will begin but expects it to begin within a month.
Edmonton Grey Nuns nurses map out “where it hurts”
Nurses at the Edmonton Grey Nuns Hospital took some time out recently for an exercise that helps track where injuries or illnesses might be occurring most frequently. The nurses were asked to place a dot on a picture of a human figure to indicate “where they hurt” at the end of their shift.
“We’re going to look at trends from the maps,” says Local Vice President Chandra Clarke who helped organize the “mapping” exercise. We’re going to see if nurses need more lifts, do they need changes. Then we’ll make recommendations to the board. We may also do a more detailed follow up survey.
UNA’s Occupational Health and Safety Officer Janice Peterson, who helped design the exercise, was pleased with participation. “Over 200 nurses participated,” she said. “This got them all thinking about workplace hazards they are facing.”
New U of A study shows better nurse staffing can save lives
A massive study by researchers at the University of Alberta showed that nurse staffing policies make a significant difference in outcomes and mortality for hospital patients. “We are concerned that some patients die unnecessarily in Alberta hospitals when continuity of care processes are disrupted,” said Dr. Carole Estabrooks, lead author of the article. Information for the study was collected over a one-year period beginning in April 1998.
Among a larger number of factors that contributed to mortality, the investigators found that four hospital nursing characteristics were significantly associated with lower mortality rates:
• Employment status: hospitals with a higher proportion of permanent staff compared to temporary and/or casual staff
• Education: hospitals with a higher proportion of baccalaureate-prepared registered nurses versus diploma prepared registered nurses
• Skill mix: hospitals with a richer skill mix (a higher proportion of registered nurses to all other nursing personnel), and
• Nurse/physician relationships: hospitals where nurses report better communication and teamwork between nurses and physicians
The highest variations in deaths are related to continuity of care variables such as the proportion of permanent to casual and temporary staff, Estabrooks said.
The research is published in the March issue of the journal, Nursing Research.
On the Light Side
The famous female Olympic skier Picabo Street (pronounced Peek-A-Boo) is not just an outstanding athlete, she is also a nurse. She currently works at the Intensive Care Unit of a large metropolitan hospital.
She is not permitted to answer the telephone, however, as it caused simply too much confusion when she would answer the phone and say, “Picabo, ICU.”
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