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Independent arbitrator Phyllis Smith awarded a one-per-cent wage raise, retroactive to April 1, 2019, to AUPE members employed by Alberta Health Services General Support Services (AHS GSS).

“We have said all along that our members deserved a raise after enduring a two-year wage freeze,” says AUPE President Guy Smith.

“Hard-working members in health care and government services deserve more than one per cent, but we accept the decision made by the independent arbitrator.

“The previous NDP government’s attempt to force a third year of wage freeze on us in arbitration created a bad situation for our members, making us have to fight longer and wait longer for a raise. The UCP took advantage of that and tried to force a rollback on us. Both attempts have failed.”

About the increase

Your employer will pay you the difference between your current wage and the increased wage retroactive to April 1, 2019. This will come as a lump-sum payment.

Keep up the Fight – bargaining begins again soon

As we head into bargaining for your next collective agreements in the coming months, our message to the government is that it’s time to focus on Albertans. It’s time to put people before profits. It’s time to make decisions based on evidence, not ideology.

“We must be prepared to fight and remember that doing nothing, gets us nothing,” says Smith. The government has signalled its intentions many times, as recently as the 2020 budget town halls, when Finance Minister Travis Toews repeated that the government has budgeted no money for wage increases for years to come.

The threat against us, our jobs, our wages, our benefits, our pensions have not stopped. This fight started with the NDP offering zero wage increases for 2019/2020, and the UCP bringing in Bill 9 to delay arbitration decisions. That's when we began to protest, to fight back, and this decision today means our fight for a fair deal only escalate.

Negotiations Team

Local 054

Nancy Woods - nancy.janer@gmail.com

Julie Woodford (A) - juliew.chp006@gmail.com

Local 056

Deborah Nawroski – local56.bargaining@gmail.com

Tammy Lanktree (A) – local56.bargaining@gmail.com

Local 057

Darren Graham - chairlocal057@aupe.ca

Wendy Kicia (A) - wendykicia@hotmail.com

Local 058

Anton Schindler - waterdude69@gmail.com

Dave Ibach (A) - dl322j@gmail.com

Local 095

Stacey Ross - sross13@shaw.ca

Dusan Milutinovic (A) - dusan.aupe@yahoo.com

Lamont Health Care Centre GSS

Lorrie Tarka – lorrietarka@hotmail.com

Carol Palichuk – carolpalichuk@hotmail.com

AUPE Resource Staff

Chris Dickson, Negotiator - c.dickson@aupe.org

Farid Iskandar, Organizer - f.iskandar@aupe.org

Kate Jacobson, Organizer - k.jacobson@aupe.org

Alexander Delorme, Communications - a.delorme@aupe.org