Community Health bargaining continues at very slow pace

The Community Bargaining Association (CBA) met last week and over the weekend in Vancouver to exchange and discuss proposals with the Health Employers' Association of British Columbia (HEABC).

Last week the two parties discussed issues and exchanged amendments to previously tabled proposals. The CBA tabled counter proposals related to casuals, job postings and classifications. HEABC and CBA tabled and discussed counter proposals to the grievance and arbitration procedures and continued to discuss the scheduling provisions.

The CBA reviewed the anti-bullying provisions in Bill 14 (amendments to the Workers Compensation Amendment Act, 2011).

Talks are scheduled to continue for two more weeks.

The primary non-monetary issues remaining are scheduling, grievance and arbitration procedures, health and safety, anti-bullying and allowances. We'll be discussing benefits and compensation after we've dealt with the non-monetary items.

HSA is represented at the bargaining table by Kate Meier, a residential care worker at South Peace Child Development Centre, and Senior Labour Relations Officer Dani Demetlika.

-This week, while we made some progress, but the bargaining committee is frustrated with the lack of real progress, and is waiting for HEABC to bring a fair and reasonable wage offer to the table," Meier said.

The Community Bargaining Association represents more than 14,000 members, the majority of whom are represented by the BCGEU. Other unions at the table are UFCW, HEU, CUPE, HSA, and USWA.

Printer-friendly version