Community Health talks adjourn; back to table May 28
The Community Bargaining Association (CBA) met this week in Vancouver to exchange and discuss proposals with the Health Employers Association of British Columbia (HEABC).
The parties discussed issues and exchanged amendments to previously tabled proposals. The CBA tabled counter proposals related to union rights. HEABC tabled a health and safety proposal and provided the CBA bargaining committee with a presentation on the Disability Management Plan, which they tabled earlier in this round of bargaining.
After meeting for three weeks during April, the CBA and HEABC agreed to take a three week break to review proposals and conduct additional research on the outstanding issues. Talks will restart on May 28, 2012 and are scheduled to continue for three weeks.
The primary non-monetary issues remaining are scheduling, grievance and arbitration procedures, health and safety, anti-bullying and allowances. Benefits and compensation will be discussed once the non-monetary items are dealt with.
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.
-The bargaining committee has been working hard on behalf of the members, and we are hopeful that when we complete the non-monetary issues the employer will come to the table with a fair and reasonable wage increase," 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 HSA, UFCW, HEU, CUPE, and USWA.