EDMONTON – Close to 80 striking Licensed Practical Nurses and Health Care Aides have ratified their first collective agreement following a vote held in Edmonton, July 24, officially ending a two-month strike at Hardisty Care Centre.
The vote ratified a tentative agreement reached July 19 between the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees and owners of the Hardisty Care Centre, B.C.-based Park Place Seniors Living Inc.
“After months on the picket line, we’re satisfied we’ve come to a first contract both sides find acceptable,” said AUPE President Guy Smith.
A tentative first contract with employer Park Place Seniors Living was reached last Thursday after nearly two months on the picket line.
The union says it reached the tentative agreement late Thursday.
“The members at Hardisty Care Centre can go back to work with their heads held high. The endurance and resolve they’ve shown in their struggle to secure a fair contract and to improve sustainable, quality care for Alberta seniors is inspiring,” said Smith.
“This is a positive achievement for seniors, for the employees who care for them and for the Albertans who fund that care with their tax dollars. This deal means the public dollars that go into seniors’ care will be spent where they were meant to be spent – on front-line care for seniors,” said Smith.
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At the heart of the dispute was a battle over wages. Workers at the Hardisty Care Centre accused Park Place Seniors Living of paying workers 20 per cent less than people who worked in facilities run by Alberta Health Services, even though the care centre receives public funding.
The three-year agreement is retroactive to April 1, 2012 and Smith says it brings wages for members into line with Alberta Health Services current rates of pay over the life of the agreement.
A return to work protocol has been established that prevents retaliation and provides an orderly return to work over the next 14 days.
“This agreement provides a solid foundation for a first collective agreement with the employer,” said Jim Petrie, AUPE Negotiator. “Staff are pleased they can return to caring for the residents they’ve known for so long.”
Last week, Ian West, vice-president of operations at Park Place Seniors Living, was hopeful the deal would be ratified early this week. “I’m happy I think (the agreement) is fair to both sides,” West said. “I think both sides agreed to step down from its previous positions to work closer together and get an agreement that’s fair to the staff and sustainable for the organization,” he said last Friday.
Ratification of the agreement is the responsibility of the owners of Park Place Seniors Living, Al and Jenny Jina. “I’m hopeful … I’m going to put (the agreement) forward to the ownership and recommend it,” West said.
Both sides in the dispute are crediting the hard work of government appointed mediator Andrew Sims as being instrumental to getting the deal done.
Hardisty Care Centre has 180 residents who have been caught in the middle of the dispute.
Provincial Health Minister Fred Horne said the province was diligent about ensuring residents at Hardisty Care Centre were receiving quality care during the strike.
Some critics had suggested the labour dispute was due, in part, to the province’s insistence on delivering continuing care through private, for-profit operators, who have been accused of paying staff less than they would earn working in the public sector.
Horne said the province is having a hard look at its continuing-care model, but noted that private operators will continue to be part of the system. He said private companies have been responsible for building a lot of the facilities upon which Albertans now depend.
The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees is Alberta’s largest union with close to 80,000 working Albertans. Almost half work in public, private and not, for profit health care.
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