Administrative Professionals Bargaining Update July 24, 2023

As of late last week, the Nova Scotia Council of Nursing Unions have been successful in reaching a tentative agreement with the Nova Scotia Health Authority and the IWK. Information sessions have been held with members of the Nursing bargaining unit, which will be followed by ratification votes this week. Votes will be counted on Thursday, July 27^th.

It is unknown what effect, if any, this might have on the Administrative Professional bargaining process. We are aware that two extra years have been added to the term of the Nursing agreement, extending the expiry day to October 31^st, 2025, which was not offered to the Healthcare table, the Support table, nor to our table.

There was an Essential Services meeting with representatives of the NSHA on Wednesday, July 19^th. The main issue continues to be a disagreement between the parties over the use of the number of “actual employees” who will be on the site as per the legislation versus the use of “FTEs” (Full Time Equivalent). If we use actual employee numbers, this allows the unions to know how many members the employer will require on the site at any given time. If we use FTEs, the employer can split the hours between several employees, which makes it impossible for the unions to know how many members will be needed at any given time. The Council is now considering its options and will advise shortly if we make the decision to apply to the Labour Board to assist with reaching an agreement on Essential Services.

Please keep watching your email, union website and/or Facebook pages, as we will post further updates as new information becomes available.

As always, if you have questions or concerns about the bargaining process or next steps, please contact a member of your bargaining committee or the NSGEU by calling 902-424-4063 (toll-free 1-877-556-7438) or emailing inquiry@nsgeu.ca.

Bargaining Committee:

Local 104 Kim Sheppard – the_piergirl@hotmail.com

Local 190 Lynette Hayward-Byrd – lynettebyrd@gmail.com

Local 423 Pamela Grace – pgrace38@gmail.com

Local 1246 Mark Smith – squidboy1@hotmail.com

Local 1246 Heather Tucker – HeatherM.Tucker@nshealth.ca

Local 1246 Bill Zebedee – zebedeensgeu@gmail.com

Local 1246 Dawn Daborn – dmsmith888@live.com

NSGEU Deputy Chief Negotiator – Tammy Young tyoung@nsgeu.ca