By David Opinko

new deal ratified

Alberta nurses ratify new deal with employers after two years of negotiations

Jan 27, 2022 | 12:42 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – An end to one of the “most prolonged and arduous negotiations in the provincial nursing union’s 44-year history.”

United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) has ratified a new Collective Agreement with Alberta Health Services (AHS), Covenant Health, and two smaller employers.

“The Bargaining Committee felt strongly the Mediator’s recommendation issued on December 21 was a fair deal that will benefit our members and also fair to the people of Alberta,” said UNA President Heather Smith. “I am gratified that the members agreed with the bargaining committee’s recommendation and voted by 87 per cent to ratify this agreement.”

More than 30,000 Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses voted, casting their ballots electronically Tuesday and Wednesday.

The deal is retroactive to April 1, 2020, and runs until March 31, 2024.

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Some highlights of the deal include:

• 4.25-per-cent pay increases over the life of the agreement. Alberta nurses will remain the highest paid in Canada
• Conversion of current semi-annual lump-sum payments to the wage grid
• A one-time lump sum payment of one per cent for 2021 in recognition of nurses’ contributions during the pandemic
• Enhanced psychological and mental health supports
• Creation of a union-employer provincial workload advisory committee
• Implementation of a Rural Capacity Investment Fund, which will allocate $5 million a year to recruitment and retention strategies in rural and remote areas of the province, and $2.5 million a year for relocation assistance

It was a long road to get to this point as negotiations started about two years ago in early 2020. At the time, AHS negotiators asked for wage cuts and other rollbacks.

“Alberta Health Services’ willingness to move away from its initial demands for wage cuts and to drop its efforts to impose more than 200 rollbacks made this agreement possible,” said UNA Labour Relations Director David Harrigan.

In addition to RNs and RPNs employed by AHS and Covenant Health, the agreement covers those employed by The Bethany Group in Camrose and Lamont Health care.

EverythingGP has reached out to AHS for additional comments.