UNA members at AHS, Recovery Alberta, Covenant Health and two other employers will vote on Mediator’s recommended agreement

For immediate release: Thursday, October 10, 2024

UNA members at AHS, Recovery Alberta, Covenant Health and two other employers will vote on Mediator’s recommended agreement

More than 500 voting delegates at the United Nurses of Alberta’s Reporting Meeting voted this afternoon in Calgary to accept a recommendation of the union’s bargaining committee to send a Mediator’s recommended settlement with Alberta Health Services, Recovery Alberta, Covenant Health and other employers to the union’s members for a ratification vote.

“This assembly decided it was up to every member affected by this agreement to have a vote,” President Heather Smith said at the end of the day’s deliberations.

The online ratification vote will take place on October 30. To be ratified, the proposed agreement must be accepted by a majority of affected members who take part in the vote and a majority of UNA locals.

The vote passed after a full day of intense discussion of the Mediator’s recommended settlement, which was delivered to the union and employer bargaining teams late Wednesday night.

The Mediator’s report recommends pay increases ranging from 12 to 22 per cent over a four-year term.

There are also significant increases in several pay premiums, including on call pay (to $7/hour), responsibility allowance ($3.50/hour), and preceptor pay ($2/hour).

UNA members will return to being the highest-paid Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses in Canada. If ratified by members, the agreement will run from April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2028.

The employers also committed in a Letter of Understanding to raise the Rural Capacity Investment Fund from $7.5 million per year to $22.5 million per year. The union and employer will jointly decide how the money will be spent to assist with retention and recruitment of nurses in rural Alberta

A complete copy of the Mediator’s report will be made available to all UNA members employed by AHS, Recovery Alberta, Covenant Health, Lamont Health Care Centre and The Bethany Group (Camrose).

Negotiations began in February, and the union and employer negotiators worked together throughout September and into October.

UNA represents more than 30,000 RNs and RPNs as well as some allied health care workers throughout Alberta.

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