Re: Passed the CRNE! And now a question...
Quite frankly, we have no power in this situation and that has been proven time and again. Nurses cannot go on strike or develop any kind of work-to-rule campaign without risking huge fines (both at the union level and at the personal level), formal complaints to CARNA and even arrest. Oh yeah, King Ralph threatened to lock us all up last time we were bargaining. And he put legislation in place to give him that ability. Then he stacked the labour relations board so that about 92% of the time, when a situation reaches arbitration the LRB finds for the employer. The LRB went so far as to advise the province on how to draft the legislation that took away our right to strike.
There are a lot of very angry people in Capital Health right now because in January we voted to standardize the benefits package, with the implication being that we'd end up with superior provisions across the board and nothing said to suggest otherwise. Then earlier this week we got a notice in the mail telling us that effective April 1, as agreed upon by HBAS and UNA, our dental benefits have been rolled back to the lowest common denominator. The change also removed the coverage for dependent life insurance. I was at the information meeting our local had before the ratification vote, and so was Heather Smith. Nothing was said about anything being rolled back; had there been I wouldn't have recommended to my members that they approve. The Joint Committee has a lot to answer for.
As it stands now, the wage increase they are proposing falls short of the raise the MLAs just got (4.9%), based on the average wage increase province-wide in the last fiscal year. And they want us to agree to a four year contract. Those two points right there guarantee a long, bitter battle.
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