HEALTH CARE BARGAINING UPDATE #5
April/May 2021
The CUPE Bargaining Council and the Provincial Health Labour Relations Services (PHLRS) met
on April 7, 14, 27 & 28 and May 5, 2021. The next dates we have set to meet with the PHLRS
are May 11, 19, 26 and June 2, 9, 16 and 23, 2021.
This round of bargaining is unique. We are merging over 120 collective agreements into one.
This has never been done before to this scale. Your Bargaining Council worked tirelessly to
review all the current collective agreements and reviewed the survey results to prepare the
proposal package that was presented.
As well as all the collective agreements that were reviewed and incorporated into our
proposals, there were over 350 Letters of Understanding (LOUs)/Memorandums of
Understanding (MOUs) from the back of the collective agreements that also had to be
reviewed. LOUs/MOUs contain important rules that the Employer must follow. Each previous
collective agreement had unique LOUs/MOUs. The Bargaining Council spent an entire week
reviewing the LOUs/MOUs. The relevant ones have been amended and added to our proposal
package.
As we previously reported, we ran into an issue regarding the application of seniority when
applying for a vacancy. The Bargaining Council and the PHLRS have had many discussions on
this issue, working through many scenarios. Together with the PHLRS we have clarified the
misunderstandings and are close to resolving this issue. This will allow the Bargaining Council
to move forward on other proposals.
Please make sure we have your most recent contact information, including cell phone number
and personal email. We do not use work contact information to reach you for union business.
If you have any questions or comments, please send an email to healthcare@cupe.ca.