Wage award accepts provincial austerity goal
The arbitration award that gives acute-care nurses at the Capital District Health Authority in Halifax a new collective agreement continues to operate on the principle that NSGEU nurses will be the highest paid in Atlantic Canada.
Though, to be accurate, nurses in Newfoundland and Labrador are currently higher-paid, something the award calls “anomalous” and “reflective of a flourishing provincial economy.”
The interest arbitration portion of the contract (the balance of the new agreement was ratified in June) follows the provincial government’s guidelines of one per cent in 2009 and 2010, with 5.1 per cent in two installments in 2011.
Another Saskatchewan Crown corporation was settled on the province’s wage terms. SaskPower employees represented by the CEP will see raises of 1.5 per cent in 2010 and two per cent in 2011 and 2012, the same as SaskTel in July.
According to union national representative Cam Britton, there are still problems that need work, despite the 20 months that has passed since the expiry of the previous agreement. “We will now be dealing with a number of issues that we agreed to work on before it expires.”
The City of Montreal has extended its contract with inside workers represented by CUPE for one year. There is a two per cent wage increase, but a number of changes were also made to the job posting language.
The union has been unhappy with the way in which jobs were being filled. A central HR group was created in May of this year to replace 34 former hiring bodies. This will, according to the union, end the multiple ways of managing hiring and staffing, which leaves open the possibility of favouritism and uncertainty, resulting in unfairness for workers.
