Scenic Acres: Bargaining was cordial, but little agreement so far

Your negotiating team began bargaining for non-monetary items with the employer on Oct. 15-16. Our conversations were pleasant, but we made little progress.

Our proposals

We proposed a number of improvements that, despite the cordial tone, were rejected. These include:

• Article 6 - workplace respect: We wanted to define workplace harassment, bullying and violence. We asked to add investigation timelines and make it a requirement that the parties involved be provided with the outcome. The employer said their existing policies deal with workplace respect adequately and didn’t need it to be in the collective agreement. However, their policies do not include timelines.
• Article 8 - probationary period and orientation: We proposed having four orientation sessions as part of on-the-job training instead of three. We also proposed that a staff member on orientation be in addition to the regular staffing levels on that shift.
• Article 11 - hours of work: We proposed increasing the number of off-duty hours between shifts to 15 from eight (this is already in practice but not in the collective agreement) and reducing shifts on consecutive days to five from six.
• Article 15 - union stewards: We want the amount the employer charges AUPE for time off for union business to reflect the actual cost, not as it currently is “an amount determined by the employer.”
• Article 24 - layoff, recall and severance: We asked that members being laid off get 28 days’ notices instead of 14. We proposed that the maximum severance pay be 12 weeks instead of eight.
• Article 25 - discipline, dismissal and resignation: We proposed adding a 24-hour notice period for investigations and reducing the time a disciplinary record is kept on file to 18 months instead of 24 months.
• Article 28 – Employee Management Advisory Committee (EMAC): We want employees to be paid at the applicable rate of pay, rather than at the basic rate of pay.
• Article 29 – administration of medications by Health-Care Aides (HCAs): We proposed that medication cart shifts be assigned to qualified HCAs on a fair, rotational basis.

Employer proposals

• Article 16 – staff parking: The employer wants to change its requirement to provide parking to employees during working hours to “whenever possible,” but say they expect no changes to current practice in the foreseeable future.
• Article 25 – discipline, dismissal and resignation: The employer wants to exclude leaves of absence of more than 30 days from the two years disciplinary action is on the record.

Productive discussions

We had production discussions on:

• Article 4 - union membership and dues deduction: Adding information the union receives from the employer.
• Article 13 - salaries: Adding guidelines for dealing with overpayments and underpayments from the employer and on bringing current payment errors to the employer’s attention.

The next round of bargaining is scheduled for January 21 and 22.

If you have questions, please contact a member of your negotiating team.

AUPE NEGOTIATING TEAM – SCENIC ACRES

Amanpreet Parmar 
gujrattan@gmail.com

Laxmi Bsnet 
laxmikhadka9@gmail.com

Egla Yilma  
eglayet@yahoo.com

Alternates

Olga Orysik 
olgaorysik19@gmail.com

Evalyn Ramos 
evalyn70@yahoo.ca

Nimfa Martin 
nimfa1967@gmail.com 

AUPE RESOURCE STAFF

Prisca Ryan Negotiations 
p.ryan@aupe.org