Dear Members,
Your bargaining team met with Yukon Government management this past week, March 24-28, and engaged in constructive bargaining to begin wrapping up negotiations for our non-monetary demands.
We advanced the discussion on Safety and Health, working conditions and presumptive coverage for occupational cancers for Wildland Firefighters, and improved conditions for Hershel Island parks staff.
We finally received long-awaited presentations on both the new Conflict Management Services (the office formerly known as RWO) and the Investigations Office, and most notably, a progress update on the Health Authority transition.
We have a lot to tell you about the Health Authority:
As a reminder, the Health Authority came from a comprehensive audit of the Yukon’s health system and resulted in a final report, Putting People First. This report concluded with 76 recommendations to improve healthcare. These recommendations can be found by following this link.
We agree with these goals, but as your advocates, we are working to ensure that this is not done at your expense, nor at the expense of the Yukoners who need the full range of services you provide. You’ve sacrificed enough over the past five years.
Between what we already knew and what we learned this week, here’s what we can confirm:
- A transitional board should be in place by this fall.
- YG currently envisions “going live” in 2028, but the transition will be staged, and members may be in place before then.
- We are currently in “Phase 1, Mapping.” A $563,680 contract has been awarded to a for-profit private management consultant in Alberta (“Health Innovations Group”) for mapping. This is an audit of current programs, services, providers, gaps, and duplications, and will be used to determine which positions will stay, which positions will go, and which positions will no longer be needed at either workplace.
- Phase 2 of this process will involve public consultations and is tentatively scheduled for this autumn.
- Most notably, we know that if you go to the new Health Authority, you will have your public service employment terminated. Union members will have a safeguarded new position with the new corporation.
- We know that that means employees who will be moved over cannot maintain their present pension plans without a legislative change or a bargained agreement.
We know the terms of employment for the new corporation cannot be negotiated yet, because there is no legal entity to bargain with.
There is still a lot that we don’t know, but there is a lot we can do. Below is a general outline of our priorities.
What are our priorities?
There will have to be three distinct and separate sets of negotiations. For YG members who remain, underway now, for YG members going to the Health Authority, and for all hospital members going to the Health Authority.
It is complicated, but we believe that given what is at stake and for greater certainty, negotiations with the new Health Authority can and should happen from the first day the new corporation is established, which could be as early as this autumn.
We have scheduled our next bargaining dates for April 14-17 and June 9-11. At that time, we hope to be able to table our proposal on the Health Authority transition for YG employees and finish off most of the outstanding non-monetary items before proceeding to monetary negotiations.
Stay tuned for issue-specific membership information sessions this spring.
In solidarity,
Your Bargaining Team
Amie Angel, Laurel Cole, Rosa Barraco, Tammi Johnson, Ian MacDonald, Erik Miller, Matt Murphy, Ted Klassen & Erna Post