On January 27, 2022 your bargaining committee was able to reach a tentative agreement with Pro Vita Management Inc. and WestCana Services Inc. through mediation at the Labour Relations Board. Both the HEU and BCGEU represent members together at the same bargaining table, and the tentative agreement reached applied to all HEU members employed at Mountain Lake and all BCGEU members employed at Cerwydden Seniors Community and Piccadilly Seniors Community. On March 1, 2022 members voted and rejected the tentative agreement.
Following the vote, the bargaining committee met to discuss the feedback received by members at Mountain Lake, Cerwydden and Piccadilly. Members told us that voter engagement was very low due to the ratification meetings being held online and the vote being done electronically, creating a barrier for all members to fully understand and participate in the process.
The bargaining committee determined that a re-vote of the tentative agreement should take place so all members could participate and make an informed decision about their new Collective Agreement. However, the Unions were advised that on July 3, 2022 CareCorp would be taking over operations from Pro Vita and Westcana at Mountain Lake and Piccadilly, and on July 11, 2022 at Cerwydden.
The good news is CareCorp has agreed to accept the tentative agreement with all the improvements your committee was able to achieve in negotiations with Pro Vita/Westcana. It is now the tentative agreement between HEU, BCGEU and CareCorp, and this means that members will have the opportunity to vote on the tentative agreement.
It is very important that members transfer to the new employer with a collective agreement in place to protect member rights. Your committee strongly believes there is nothing else that could have been achieved this round of bargaining and the tentative agreement represents a positive start to a working relationship with your new Employer. That is why your committee is unanimously recommending acceptance and we encourage you to vote "yes".
In order to ensure that all members have the opportunity to participate in the ratification meetings and ask questions about the tentative agreement, we will be holding the ratification meetings and voting at your worksite as follows:
Ratification Meeting Details:
CERWYDDEN SENIORS COMMUNITY
Date: Tuesday July 12th, 2022
Time: Meeting 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. (voting will be open from 1:30- 3:30 p.m.)
Location: Cerwydden Seniors Community- 1st Floor Activity Room
PICCADILLY SENIORS COMMUNITY
Date: Thursday July 14th, 2022
Time: Meeting 2:00 -3:00 p.m. (voting will be open from 1:30- 3:30 p.m.)
Location: Piccadilly Seniors Community – Main Floor Activity Room
Highlights of the Tentative agreement:
The original February 16, 2022 full ratification agreement can be viewed by clicking here. When you vote, you will be voting to accept all the changes in the entire document. Anything new will be in bold, underline and highlight like this. Anything that will be removed from your current agreement will be struck through like this.
By far, the biggest issue on the table was how to deal with wages if the single site levelling up wage rate agreement is terminated during the life of the new agreement. Your bargaining committee is pleased to say they were able to find a resolution to that issue and this will continue with your new Employer.
Highlights of the agreement are:
- Length of agreement
January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2023
- Wages
If the single site levelling up wage agreement ends during the duration of this collective agreement the wages will be dealt with in two stages.
First, all wages will be reverted to the post-levelling wages shown in the attached tentative agreement documents.
Second, the parties will immediately open up the collective agreement to negotiate the ongoing wages. If the parties are unable to come to agreement on wages within 90 days, the issue will be referred to a binding third party arbitrator to resolve the wage issue.
- Lump-sum Payment/ Signing Bonus
Employees employed on date of ratification will receive a lump-sum payment as follows:
Full time $600.00
Part time $500.00
Casuals $200.00
- Benefit improvements
Premiums
Afternoon premiums increased from 15 cents to 40 cents date of ratification, 50 cents August 1, 2022 and 60 cents August 1, 2023
Nightshift increase from 25 cents to 50 cents date of ratification, 60 cents August 1, 2022, 70 cents August 1, 2023
- Vacation
Reduced the amount of time to achieve more vacation plus add a new 10% vacation category as follows:1 to 2 years 4%; 3 to 5 years 6%; 6 to 11 years 8%; 12 years and up 10%
- Sick Leave
Increase sick leave accrual from maximum of 30 days to 45 days; sick leave to be paid at 100% once the probationary period is over; 40% payout of unused sick leave when retiring.
- Bereavement Leave
Provide bereavement leave for loss of employee’s pregnancy.
- Transportation allowance
Increase allowance from 50 cents to 59 cents per km
Increase maximum insurance costs from $75.00 to $150.00
- Other Enhancements to Collective Agreement
New updated maternity and adoption leave language that provides for significantly longer leaves and protections during the leaves.
New Occupational Health and Safety language providing stronger rights, education and pay.
New Harassment and Bullying language providing significant improvements in dealing with harassment complaints and a strong process to fight against bullying.
New additional leaves of absence language allowing for leaves such as Family responsibility; disappearance of a child; Death of a child; domestic or sexual violence; jury duty; Covid 19 etc.
Improvements to Compassionate Care leave.
We are looking forward to meeting you at the ratification meetings. We strongly encourage you to attend the meeting at your worksite area and we encourage you to vote "YES" and ratify your new collective agreement.
In solidarity,
Maude Joe, Bargaining Committee Member
Jill Sauve, Bargaining Committee Member
Monique Wemhof, Staff Representative - Negotiations
Download PDF of notice here
Download PDF of tentative agreement here
Download PDF of ratification document here
UWU/MoveUP
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