Health Support Council of Unions: Bargaining Update

The Health Support Bargaining Council of Unions wants to give you an update on the status of negotiations in bargaining your new collective agreement with Nova Scotia Health and IWK. As you may recall, your bargaining was postponed because of the recent provincial election. Your committee met all day the day after the election was called, but unfortunately that evening, the employers were directed to suspend bargaining until after the election. Your committee and the employers had already agreed to December 4th and 5th to return to the table, but it was unclear if the directive would be given to resume bargaining on those dates. We are pleased to confirm we were called back to the table and resumed bargaining on those dates.

Your committee was able to develop a very comprehensive wage package and presented it to the employers late in the day on the 5th. The wage package included significant monetary increases for all of the classifications and focused on your integral role in the healthcare team. The employers needed several weeks in order to respond because there will be a new cabinet and government sworn in shortly. We will be resuming negotiations again in late January.

The essential services negotiation process has not paused and is still ongoing. That committee has met several times with another date scheduled for early January.

Your committee wishes to thank you for your patience and continued support. Bargaining being paused was beyond anyone’s control, but we have now resumed and will continue to work hard on your behalf to conclude the best possible collective agreement.

If you have any questions or concerns, about the bargaining process, please contact:

Christian Collins, Bargaining Council Representative, cbj@eastlink.ca

Thomas Schreuer, Bargaining Council Representative, tschreuer@hotmail.com

Raymond Theriault, Bargaining Council Representative, codeman@ns.sympatico.ca

Matthew Walsh, Bargaining Council Representative, mattwalsh11@gmail.com

Logan MacDonald, Bargaining Council Representative, xxlogo1971@gmail.com