On behalf of the entire membership and board of HSAA, I want to extend a warm welcome to the members who will now be represented by our union.
The government decision to consolidate health regions into the single entity called Alberta Health Services (AHS) has resulted in the transfer of many Emergency Medical Services (EMS), inlcuding the Inter Facility Transfer Service in Edmonton, and former employees of the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Addiction Commission into the HSAA paramedical professional and technical bargaining unit.
Because of the legal challenges that resulted, the question of union representation has been uncertain for some time. We have fully respected the right of the former unions to bring those challenges. A decision of the Court of Queen’s Bench on May 18 confirmed the transfer. Yesterday we received confirmation that no further appeals would follow.
Changing unions, especially involuntarily, is not easy. We develop our own cultures, practices and loyalties, and that must be respected. Nevertheless, with this decision, it is now important that we achieve the transition into HSAA as promptly as possible. Our staff have been busy planning meetings for the new members, and notification of these will be sent out early next week. Many of the affected members have been without a collective agreement for some time, and we must now negotiate (transition) them into a single collective agreement. It is our intention to do so as quickly as possible.
Our goal is, first and foremost, to ensure that no one loses pay or benefits that they currently enjoy, and to extend benefits that are part of our provincial agreement to everyone who will now be part of it. The transition must be negotiated, however, but we will do our utmost to achieve the goal. Over the next while, incoming groups will set up their local units, and select representatives to participate in the transition bargaining. The process from here on in will be fairly complex, so I will not go into detail in this blog.
This afternoon our senior labour relations staff and I met with EMS workers who have been CUPE elected representatives of the incoming groups. The meeting was very positive – we discussed the process of merging the EMS workers into our union, and the many legitimate questions about how HSAA will deal with the many issues that arise out of the transition, and how current grievances will be dealt with.
On the grievance front, our staff have negotiated a time limit extension for all grievances to the end of June. Between now and then, our staff and representatives of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) will transfer all files and exchange information to ensure that these grievances can be properly handed off to our staff. They may be able to deal with some issues before the end of June, but the blanket extension ensures that no grievance is lost because of an expired time limit.
I invite the professionals who are coming into HSAA to visit our web site, where you will be able to download a membership application form. We will be mailing membership packages to every employee affected (assuming that AHS has provided us contact information). Some of our the benefits that HSAA provides (over and above your collective agreements, are dependent on the date you joined, so going to the web may speed up the membership by eliminating one trip by mail.
I am confident that the members of HSAA will join me in ensuring that you are made to feel welcome in your new union, and look forward to meeting as many of you as possible in the near future.
Wishing you a fine (if not sunny) weekend.
Elisabeth