Contract offer 'intentionally provocative': nurses' union

The president of the province's nurses' union is speaking out over what she says are rollbacks in a new contract proposal tabled by Alberta Health Services at the start of negotiations Monday.

"They are being intentionally provocative in their proposal," the president of the United Nurses of Alberta, Heather Smith, said in a news release Tuesday.

"It's an extreme proposal that we think is unreasonable. Trying to push nurses back won't move health care forward."

According to the UNA, the contract calls for a reduction in the required rest time between shifts from 15.5 hours to 10 hours, and keeping casuals on permanent probation, allowing them to be terminated without cause.

"This is absolutely unbelievable in terms of the number and the scope of clawbacks proposed by Alberta Health Services," said Smith. "Nobody anticipated what we got [Monday]."

"Of 44 articles in our contract, 34 of them have rollbacks," she said. "Part-time employees of less than point four [roughly two days a week] would be stripped of  all health benefits entirely."

The board chair of Alberta Health Services refused to discuss details of the offer made to the nurses union.

"Our negotiations will be at the table," said Ken Hughes. 

The AHS responded to the nurses' union with a release of its own Tuesday.

'A fair and competitive proposal'

"We believe we are offering a very fair and competitive proposal that will support our nursing workforce," said Andrea Robertson, chief nursing officer with the AHS, in the release.  The initial offer tabled Monday "respects Alberta's nurses and also recognizes the fiscal realities of the health system."

The UNA is proposing a four per cent salary increase in each of the two years of the contract. Smith described that as a reasonable demand.

"This is the first time that there is no increase proposed in shift differential, weekend premium, in-charge, all kinds of other monetary areas where normally you might expect to see UNA have an increase proposed," she said.

The union is also proposing that a registered nurse or registered psychiatric nurse be given the authority to call in staff or stop the admission of new patients to a unit or program when they believe it's unsafe to do so.

The last UNA contract was negotiated in 2007 and included a five-per-cent salary increase in each of the three years covered by the agreement.

The current contract expires on March 31.  Bargaining will resume on March 17.