Carewest Bargaining Update #5

Bargaining updates

Your Bargaining Committee met with Carewest on January 12 and 13. During those meetings, we had productive discussions on a range of articles and Letters of Understanding (LOUs).

By the end of January 13, both parties agreed in principle on all monetary articles and LOUs except two: Long Service Pay and Education/Professional Development Leave. Your employer wanted us to make concessions on Education Leave in lieu of Professional Development Leave. In addition, they would not agree to the same Long Service Pay arrangement that has now been agreed between HSAA and all major health-care employers such as, Alberta Health Services, Acute Care Alberta, Recovery Alberta, Assisted Living Alberta, and Alberta Precision Laboratories. HSAA has made it very clear to your employer that we do not engage in concession bargaining.

Since both parties have reached an impasse, we filed for informal mediation on January 14.

Why mediation?

Mediation is the next step in the process if the bargaining committee and the employer are unable to reach a tentative agreement through direct negotiations. It involves a neutral third party who assists us and the employer to reach an agreement.

What happens next?

  • We wait for the assignment of a mediator, which can take some time.
  • We will be serving the employer with notice to bargain an Essential Services Agreement (ESA) during the week of January. 19.
  • During this period, your Bargaining Committee will continue strengthening our position so we are ready to resume negotiations as soon as mediation begins.

Have questions?

If you’d like to learn more about what informal mediation means, what ESAs are, and how the negotiations process works, please visit our Collective Bargaining FAQs.

You can also contact Lorri at LorriR@hsaa.ca or Fahad at FahadS@hsaa.ca.

We will continue to provide updates as they become available and will notify members as soon as a mediator is assigned and new dates are scheduled.

Thank you for your ongoing support while we work to secure you the strongest agreement possible.

In solidarity,

Your Bargaining Committee

Greg Keiser, Registered Psychologist
Judy Yip, Pharmacist
Lorri Renaud, Labour Relations Officer
Fahad Saleem, Labour Relations Officer