Bulletin 210
December 17, 2004
Negotiations to revise the 11th Master Collective Agreement between the Provincial Government and the Public Service Nurses Bargaining Association began December 15th, 2004. The Nursing Unions presented a package of proposals that are aimed at providing protections for members who face downsizing, transfer to the Health Sector and various other forms of change in their work conditions. In particular, the unions are proposing language that will ensure that when downsizing takes place the employer will provide voluntary options to employees including Voluntary Departure Programs (VDP) and Early Retirement Incentive Plans (ERIP).
The unions are also focusing on issues pertaining to professional integrity. This includes proposals that address workload, professional responsibility reporting and funding for specialized training. As negotiations continue, we will keep people informed of where the issues are and how things are progressing.
The Nurses Bargaining Association for the Health Sector has recently completed an agreement with Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCHA) which will enable nurses to apply for work throughout the Health Authority and be able to "port" their seniority to the new location.
The Health Authority will be divided into four clusters: Vancouver, Richmond, North Shore/Coast Garibaldi and Corporate and Regional Services. Staff will be designated a "home" cluster and would be considered to have "first consideration" for any postings in their cluster. However, any vacancies in VCHA will be posted simultaneously at all sites within the authority and all staff will be able to apply.
It is believed that this agreement will provide members with greater employment and career opportunities within the VCHA and enable them to move about without the loss of their seniority. A more detailed package of information on this will be sent out to members in VCHA in the new year.
In June 2004, the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) implemented a new payroll system at Riverview and Forensic Psychiatric Hospital which would bring them in line with the system used throughout that health authority. Unfortunately, they didn't take into account that the collective agreement at these facilities was completely different. What ensued can only be described as chaos with grievances abounding from all unions involved.
On December 9, 2004, a Working Group looking into these issues met for the first time. This group consists of representatives from all of the impacted unions from both sites along with PHSA representatives from payroll and from Human Resources. They are to meet regularly and frequently to work on finding resolutions to all of the problems that have been identified. There are currently 49 separate issues that need to be fixed.
At their first meeting, we are pleased to note that a few problems were resolved and others seem to be well on their way to being corrected. We hope that, through a determined effort, we will be able to quickly complete the process of rectifying the difficulties that were created with the implementation of this new payroll system.
To all our members throughout the province:
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