During the last round of negotiations we made significant progress in achieving full mobility for all employees of a Health Authority covered by the Community Health Bargaining Association (CBA). Each Health Authority is currently divided up into 'Appendix 1 Employers' in the collective agreement and previously if you worked for a Health Authority (in the absence of an agreement to the contrary) you worked for a separate Employer within the Health Authority. In many cases this meant that you were not considered an internal applicant at other workplaces covered by the same agreement and limited your ability to transfer seniority, benefits, and accruals.

Stage 1 – Transfer of Seniority, Steps, and Accruals

The first stage is now effective and this means that if you are the successful candidate for a position in the same Health Authority you are currently employed in you can opt to transfer all seniority, benefits, increment step, and accruals to that position. You are still considered an external applicant if you are applying to move from one Appendix 1 employer to another (in the absence of an existing dovetailing agreement). This will change during Stage 2 as noted later in this communication.

Understand that you must fully leave all other positions within the Health Authority in order for this to apply and you are not allowed to utilize this language if you wish to maintain your standing at another Appendix 1 Employer within your Health Authority. You may however apply to work at other Appendix 1 Employers within your Health Authority but you would now be considered a new employee and would not have any previous seniority or accruals recognized.

Example 1 – a mental health and addictions worker in Victoria (VIHA) is the successful applicant on a position in Nanaimo (VIHA). You can now transfer all your seniority, benefits, increment steps, and accruals to the new position as long as you are resigning your position in Victoria.

Example 2 – an administrative worker holds two positions in Burnaby (FHA) and is the successful applicant on a position in Chilliwack (FHA). You can now transfer all your seniority, benefits, increment steps, and accruals to the new position as long as you are resigning both your positions in Burnaby.

Example 3 – a food service worker holds two different positions in Kamloops (IHA) and is the successful applicant on a position in Kamloops (IHA) with a third Appendix 1 Employer in Kamloops. You can now transfer all your seniority, benefits, increment steps, and accruals to the new position as long as you are resigning both your other positions in Kamloops. However, you can seek employment at either of the Appendix 1 Employers you used to work at but you will be considered a new employee with no seniority or increment steps because you transferred it all to your new position.

Stage 2 – Dovetailing and Full Mobility

The second stage of mobility will occur in April of 2024 where all seniority lists for a Health Authority in the CBA will be merged and you will have full mobility throughout and will be considered an internal candidate for all CBA positions regardless of where they are in the Health Authority. Your Union will update you as the details for this second stage are established.

However, this process will include limiting all CBA employees in a Health Authority to holding a maximum of 1.0 FTE. This means that if you currently have two or more positions that are in excess of 1.0 FTE you will at some point have to determine which position you will be keeping and which one you will have to give up. This will also impact employees that work in excess of 37.5 hours per week (40 hours per week for CHW's) at straight time. Once the second stage is implemented all hours over that of a regular full time position will be considered overtime and those hours will likely be distributed to other employees at straight time where it is possible.

If you wish to continue working in excess of the hours of a regular full time employee at straight time you are advised to seek additional employment outside of your health authority or outside the CBA. 

In Solidarity,
Scott De Long
Vice-President – Component 8

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