The last four-year collective agreement with Alberta Health Services and UNA expired in the spring of 2020. The AHS proposal “maintains the employer`s demand for the abolition of lump sum payments that would cost UNA members two percent per year in salaries, and a letter of intent that would remove important planning protections for nurses,” the UNA said in an update on the negotiations on Tuesday. “However, they continue to demand a two percent reduction as well as many other setbacks. To be clear, the government`s attacks on these professionals cannot continue, and this change in negotiating position will not be enough to address the widespread shortage of staff resulting from burnout and low morale. The union also said the ministers` comments are misleading because “AHS and UNA did not use Article 64 mediation in the 2017 round of negotiations and the procedure has not been used for many years,” a UNA press release said on August 16. The UNA is asking for more negotiation dates and for the minister to be able to continue the negotiation process without provincial intervention. “The AHS`s new proposal to the UNA bargaining committee yesterday represented a step forward in negotiations on a new collective agreement with the UNA, but still contains several serious withdrawals, including one proposal that would amount to an immediate 2% reduction in salary for UNA members, and another that would remove important planning protections for nurses.” Informal mediation is an essential part of the negotiation process. Seven of the last eight collective agreements between AHS and UNA – including the 2017 agreement – have been reached in mediation,” Finance Minister Travis Toews said in a press release. While the changes to today`s new proposal represent an improvement in the employer`s bargaining power, they would do nothing to address the critical issue of turnover and retention facing Alberta health services across the province,” the UNA said.

The UNA said AHS negotiators had contacted the union over the long weekend to say they had a new mandate from the government to change their bargaining proposals before formal mediation began. The United Nurses of Alberta says progress has been made in negotiating a new collective agreement with Alberta Health Services. “I am pleased that AHS has submitted a revised work proposal to the UNA in the hope of reaching a new collective agreement with nurses in the province,” Toews said in a statement Wednesday morning. Both sides have twice agreed to suspend contract negotiations to focus on the pandemic, but last March, the UNA said it was time to resume negotiations. “The recent steps taken by AHS to hire contract nurses from outside the province at much higher rates of pay than those in the UNA collective agreement show that the problem AHS faces is chronic, year-round and province-wide, not primarily in rural areas or simply due to the COVID-19 pandemic and seasonal staff vacations. “UnA was pleased that the employers` new bargaining position dropped several offensive proposals, but will continue its efforts in the negotiations to reach an agreement addressing the critical turnover and retention issue that AHS is currently facing in all regions of the province,” added Harrigan. “AhS and government efforts to reduce nurses` salaries and eliminate key protections in their collective agreements are contributing to the current crisis in the province`s health facilities, exacerbated by a shortage of nurses that has forced employers to rely on expensive staffing agencies to keep health facilities running.” according to the press release. “They`ve worked so hard over the past 18 months, and that`s the thanks they get.” It has seen the barrel of an $18 billion deficit shrink this year, a forecast that has now been lowered to about $8 billion in red ink due to a recovery in global oil prices. “As Alberta`s health care system is in chaos and health care heroes are on the front lines and working tirelessly to care for hundreds of Albertans with COVID-19, the UCP government has finally moved away – albeit slightly – from its unscrupulous plan to cut nurses` salaries by three per cent. As of August 17, AHS had still not filed a request for informal mediation. Read more: Alberta Nurses` Union seeks formal mediation, “one step closer to potential industrial action.” .