Healthcare Unions bargaining update November 6, 2017

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Conciliation begins November 9 with the Nova Scotia Council of Healthcare Unions, which is trying to reach a fair collective agreement for hundreds of workers in employed by the Nova Scotia Health Authority and IWK. The council is made up of bargaining committee members from Unifor, NSGEU, CUPE and NSNU.
The Department of Labour and Advanced Education has appointed Christina Browning to act as conciliator and meetings are scheduled for November 9, 10, and 16.

Talks broke down with the employers in October with Unifor Local 4600 along with NSGEU, CUPE and NSNU. It is expected conciliation will take more than these three meeting dates due to the complexity of the task and given that the unions and the employer are significantly apart but the process is continuing to move forward.

The Council of Union negotiators continues to try and reach an essential services agreement so the Council may be in a position to begin job action, but the Employers’ essential services negotiators walked away from the table in the summer.
The Council negotiators are working to finalize their essential services proposal in the hopes of re-starting discussions in the coming weeks.

This round of bargaining has been a long and at times frustrating process for health care members. The McNeil Liberals have used their majority government unlike any other provincial government in Canada to invoke multiple pieces of anti-union legislation. Employer negotiators still refuse to table their proposed changes to sick leave benefits for health care workers.

In spite of these barriers the Bargaining Committee has fought hard during these negotiations to protect key benefits that members have negotiated over the past four decades. For example, Employer negotiators continue to make clear they want complete control of health and dental benefits plans. If the Council of Healthcare Unions were to give up this control, the Employers could make unilateral changes to benefits without the agreement of the unions.

For more information, please contact:
Susan Gill National Representative @email (902) 562-3857
Jamie Pollock President Local 4600 @email