Councils of Health Care Unions Ratify Agreement with NSHA and IWK

Today, the Councils of Health Care Unions voted 92% to ratify an agreement with the Nova Scotia Health Authority and IWK.

The agreement provides wage increases over a six year term (2014-2020), protects key benefits and provides a mediation arbitration process that will conclude all collective agreements for the four bargaining units in Health Care, Nursing, Support Services, and Administrative Professionals by the end of 2018.

The Councils of Unions, made up of NSGEU, NSNU, CUPE and Unifor, each conducted their own ratification vote with all results sent to a third party election officer where they were counted together. This agreement will produce new collective agreements for all four bargaining units with the NSHA and IWK.

Each bargaining unit will continue to negotiate with the Employers. What is new under this agreement is that any issues that can not be resolved at the negotiating table will be sent to an independent third-party mediator-arbitrator for a final and binding award.

This has been the first round of negotiations using the Councils of Health Care Unions model. It required negotiating over 50 collective agreements down to eight, four with the NSHA and four with the IWK. This was a complex process but set the foundation and precedent for future negotiations.

The Councils of Unions thanks their respective members for their patience and solidarity during this process and looks forward to concluding collective agreements for the dedicated and hardworking people in Health Care, Nursing, Support Services and Administrative Professionals.