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The bargaining committee for Unifor is pleased to announce that members have voted to 92 per cent to ratify an agreement with NSHA and IWK to go to mediation and binding arbitration.
“Thanks to the support, solidarity and patience of members we can now see a light at the end of an extremely difficult round of negotiations, made more challenging by numerous pieces of government legislation,” said said Lana Payne, Atlantic Regional Director.
The agreement provides wage increases over a six-year term, protects current health, sick leave and retiree benefits for the Health Care, Nursing, Support Services, and Administrative Professionals employed in hospitals across the province.
“This gives us a path forward as it means that after three very long years, we will have collective agreements in place for all unionized acute care workers in Nova Scotia by the end of 2018,” Linda McNeil, Unifor’s Atlantic Area Director, who represents the union on the executive council.
The Nova Scotia Council of Health Care Unions was formed with Unifor, CUPE, NSNU and NSGEU in 2015.
The four bargaining units will continue to negotiate with the employers. What is new under this agreement is that any issues that cannot be resolved at the negotiating table will be sent to an independent third-party mediator-arbitrator.
All four unions are looking forward to working with mediator William Kaplan, who will try to assist the parties to achieve agreement through mediation, but will render a final and binding award on the issues that are left unresolved.
For more information contact:
Jamie Pollock (President Unifor 4600) at @email or call 902-578-1564
Susan Gill (Unifor servicing representative) at @email or call 902-562-3857