Health Care Ratifies Much-Improved Contract

A new, much-improved collective agreement was ratified by members of the Health Care bargaining unit on Thursday, September 12th. The hard-fought deal was achieved after many long, difficult days at the bargaining table with employer representatives from Nova Scotia Health (NSH) and IWK Health Centre.

Ultimately, 4,298 signed members of the bargaining unit voted, with 79 per cent (3,390) voting to accept the agreement, as recommended by the committee.

This was a particularly challenging round of negotiations, for a few reasons. It’s an incredibly diverse group: there are approximately 9,100 members working in approximately 180 different occupations in this unit, so there are a wide range of issues and pay gaps that exist. And thanks in large part to the mandated wage restraint of the McNeil Liberal government, many of these occupations had fallen behind their counterparts in the rest of the country – and even in Atlantic Canada.

The bargaining council – comprised of members from NSGEU, Unifor, and CUPE – knew that they had a tough job ahead of them. Without factoring in all of the time that went into preparing for bargaining – surveys, analysis, and proposal development – the Council spent a total of 15 days at the table with the employers, culminating in a marathon final day of bargaining that didn’t conclude until 4:30 a.m. the next morning, when they finally hammered out a deal that they felt they could bring forward to the membership with a recommendation to accept.

Due in large part to the complexity of this bargaining unit (it includes more than 9,100 members working in approximately 180 different occupations), the wage provisions of the new agreement are complex: monetary increases depend on the members’ occupation, how many years of service they have (what step they fall on in the current wage grid), and how their occupation compares to your counterparts in Atlantic Canada.

The offer that was brought forward was a two-year deal, which includes cumulative wage increases totaling between 10.38 to 18.87 per cent over the two years of the agreement (November 1st, 2023 to October 31st, 2025) for those who are at the top of their scale.
All members receive the basic economic adjustments of 3% (effective November 1st, 2023), 2% (effective November 1st, 2024).

Everyone except for Care Team Assistants (CTAs) and Paramedics will receive the Special Acute Care adjustment of 2.5% effective April 1st, 2024. Then, effective October 31st, 2024, another 2.5% step will be added to all classifications except Paramedics. One year later, another 2.5% step will be added to all classifications except Paramedics. (Note: CTAs received an extra adjustment prior to this agreement and are currently highest paid for their classification in Atlantic Canada, and Paramedics have been matched to EMC paramedics).

Finally, for those occupations who are not leading in Atlantic Canada, special catch-up adjustments of up to 2.5% and 2.5% will be applied on November 1st, 2024, and April 1st, 2025, respectively.

“This deal was tough to achieve, but is fair,” said NSGEU President Sandra Mullen, “It recognizes the critical role these health care professionals play in delivering the care Nova Scotians so desperately need.”

Perhaps most significantly, the language achieved in this round of bargaining clearly recognizes that these health care professionals should be leading in Atlantic Canada. And we are committed to ensuring that remains the case, moving forward.

We appreciate the engagement, support, and solidarity that was demonstrated by the membership throughout this round and look forward to engaging members in our next round of collective bargaining, which will start well in advance of the expiry of the collective agreement on October 31st, 2025. The Council continues its efforts to conclude an essential services staffing agreement via the Labour Board, in an attempt to ensure we don’t have to start that process over again when negotiations begin again.

In the meantime, we are pushing to get the contract signed by all parties so the employer can begin getting data entered into their payroll system and retro payout to everyone as soon as possible. We will also be establishing a joint committee to work through eligibility for various occupations’ eligibility for the special catch-up adjustments: stay tuned for more information!