Nova Scotia Council of Nursing Unions Bargaining Update: April 14th

The acute care nurse bargaining process continued this week, as members of the Nova Scotia Council of Nursing Unions negotiating team met with representatives of the IWK and NSH, along with the Department of Health and Wellness for two days this week (Wednesday, April 12th and Thursday, April 13th). These were the fourth and fifth days of face-to-face bargaining held since the process began at the end of February. The teams also met on Thursday (April 6th) of last week. The next scheduled day is Monday, May 1st. A full list of upcoming dates is included below:

May 1, 2, 15, 16, 23, 24, 25, 26

June 1, 2, 12, 13, 14, 22, 23, 27, 29

Bargaining Priorities

Proposals have been developed, informed, and prioritized through a variety of means: ongoing consultation with members, surveys, townhalls, Labour Relations Representatives’ feedback, provincial comparators, economic analysis, and various grievances and arbitrations, all help formulate the language of the collective agreement. The priorities identified for this round of bargaining focus on retention, competitive compensation and premiums, workload and staffing levels, reassignment and redeployment, workplace violence, excessive overtime, and overall enhancement of work-life balance. The bargaining team is scrutinizing every proposal through a retention lens and asking, “will this help retain nurses?”.

Your Council (comprised of members from NSNU, NSGEU, CUPE, Unifor) will continue to provide regular updates as the teams meet face-to-face, and when there is news to share.

The Health Authorities Act, passed by the provincial government in 2014, requires all nurses employed at Nova Scotia Health (NSH) and IWK to bargain together in a Council of Nursing Unions. Under the four Council constitutions, one union appoints the chief negotiator for each Council. The NSNU appoints the Chief Negotiator for the Nursing Council and has the majority of bargaining committee members. NSGEU appoints the Deputy Chief Negotiator and holds the second largest number of seats on the committee (you can view the Council Constitutions here.)

We appreciate your patience as we progress in this round of negotiations.

If you have questions or concerns about the bargaining process, please contact a member of your bargaining team:

Local 101 Holly Bowdridge, holly.bowdridge@ns.sympatico.ca

Local 195 Angelica Chasse-Naugler, chassenaugler@hotmail.com

Local 101 Lisa Clowater, lisa4burns@hotmail.com

Local 101 Tricia MacLean, tdmac74@gmail.com

Local 101 Kelly Parsons, kpars@eastlink.ca

Local 101 Rochelle Ryan, jrcryan1970@gmail.com

Local 101 Kerri Webster-McIsaac, kerway1149@gmail.com

NSGEU Deputy Negotiator Lynette Johnson, ljohnson@nsgeu.ca