Your bargaining team met with the YG team the week of December 8.
Unfortunately, to the team’s disappointment, not much progress was made over the past few days, and negotiations sputtered.
We expected to be able to continue discussions with a full agenda planned for the week – namely on Conflict Management Services (formerly Respectful Workplace), Community Nursing, and the Health Authority if a presentation was to be made available. We also wanted to continue further discussions on what had been previously tabled on several topics – but that was not the case.
Beyond a presentation and general discussion regarding Community Nursing and a brief discussion on EMS, there was not much else to report.
The Conflict Management Services (formerly Respectful Workplace) discussion has been postponed until our next session in February.
The YG team again indicated (see our last bulletin), that despite the fact we are months into negotiations and the Health Authority has been in the planning for years, the Employer team was still not in a position to provide the team with concrete information on the timetable, and their workplace plan for the Health Authority.
So, imagine the team’s surprise when during an all-staff HSS meeting on December 12, one Deputy Minister and five Assistant Deputy Ministers shared a high-level, notional work plan with estimated timelines. This presentation was followed by a question-and-answer session where it seems assurances regarding pensions, job security, and the terms and conditions of the collective agreement being inherited by the new Authority were made to staff by the Employer.
This is news to us, and we wonder why that wasn’t explained at the bargaining table as we’ve been asking for information since the start of negotiations.
We can only conclude that the Employer is not engaged enough to share or communicate between departments to support fair and transparent negotiations.
Given the apparent inability of the Employer team to provide the Union team with requested the information, the Union team will proceed with bargaining the Health Authority transition when we next meet in February. As reported in previous bulletins we have assembled an updated general chronology on Health Authority bargaining below.
Additional dates have been agreed to for February 3-7, March 24-28, and April 14-17.
This was our last bargaining session before the Collective Agreement expires on December 31, 2024.
Stay tuned for more information and in the meantime, we’d like to extend our wishes to you and your families for a safe and peaceful holiday season.
Timeline on Health Authority Bargaining
Union’s request for information:
- In preparation for bargaining our bargaining team sent an information request to the Employer on September 23 which included a specific request for the “tally of positions and classifications to be transferred to Wellness Yukon.”
- The Employer responded on November 7, indicating they did not have that information related to the Health Authority.
Bargaining table discussions:
Week of October 8-11, 2024
- The Union tabled its package of proposals which included “The status of Health and Wellness Yukon and implementation plan” as a discussion item.
- In response, the Employer committed to arrange a presentation on the Health Authority for the next session of bargaining in November.
Week of November 19-22, 2024
- At the beginning of the week, the YG team advised our bargaining team that the Health Authority presentation was not ready and would not be on the agenda.
- At the end of the week, the Employer reiterated that they were still unable to advise when they would be in a position to present on the Health Authority.
Week of December 10-13, 2024
- The YG team informed our bargaining team that they were not sure they would have any information to present on the Health Authority by the time of the next bargaining session in February 2025.
- Our union team indicated they will table proposals on the topic of the Health Authority even if no information is forthcoming from the Employer.
In solidarity, your bargaining team,
Amie Angel, Laurel Cole, Rosa Barraco, Tammi Johnson, Ian MacDonald, Erik Miller, Matt Murphy, Ted Klassen, & Erna Post