Council of Nursing Defers Outstanding Issues to Arbitrator

The Nova Scotia Council of Nursing Unions (NSNU, NSGEU, CUPE and Unifor) and the Employer group (NSHA and IWK) have completed collective bargaining and are referring all remaining matters in dispute to Arbitrator William Kaplan.

Mr. Kaplan was named as mediator-arbitrator for all acute care collective agreements, as per a decision that was ratified by a large majority of workers in May of this year.

The 20-member Nursing Council began collective bargaining in early September and meetings with the Employers continued until early this week. As a result, the issues that must be resolved by Mr. Kaplan have been narrowed considerably. Written submissions will be made to Mr. Kaplan by the end of this week and we expect him to issue his order, establishing the terms of the new Nursing collective agreement, shortly after he reviews the submissions.

Once the Nursing Council receives his order, we will share a link to the Collective Agreement via email and our website. Members will receive updates and notices as quickly as arrangements can be made.

The Council of Nursing Unions thanks you for your ongoing patience during this process. It has been a long, difficult round of bargaining, and one that is unlike any other we have experienced before. Your representatives worked very hard on behalf of nurses across the province to achieve the best possible outcome.

If you have comments or questions, please contact one of your representatives on the Nursing Council:

Rochelle Ryan, NSGEU
Trish MacLean, NSGEU
Kerri McIsaac, NSGEU
Denise Meade Jones, NSGEU
Joanne Fairfax, NSGEU
Trina Mauger, NSGEU

Janet Hazelton, NSNU
Janis Ritcey, NSNU
Laura Lee Sharpe, NSNU
Vivian Starkey, NSNU
Alaine Halliday, NSNU
Gerri Oakley, NSNU
Karen MacDonald, NSNU
Chris VanZoost, NSNU
Edson Castilho, NSNU
Geoff Bennett, NSNU
Jen Thiele, NSNU
Shawna Boudreau, NSGEU
Jim Laverie, CUPE
Shauna Wilcox, Unifor