The union represents 4,466 workers, including social workers, speech language pathologists, respiratory therapists and other professionals
Bargaining between the union representing health-care professionals and Alberta Health Services has broken down after a failure to agree on wages.
According to the Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA), AHS refused to negotiate wages and is proposing a monetary lump-sum payment based on proposed percentages rather than paying employees a base wage rate.
In a news release HSAA said doing so would ultimately freeze wages for 21 per cent or 4,466 of their members, including social workers, speech language pathologists, respiratory therapists, pharmacy technicians and health information management professionals.
“We would be willing to sit down and bargain our proposals with them if they treated us fairly and like other health-care unions,” HSAA president Mike Parker said in a news release.
“Our members came ready to negotiate to get a fair deal for the professionals that are essential to providing Albertans with health care. They were met by an employer unwilling even to discuss their insulting monetary proposal.”
AHS’s monetary proposal for all HSAA members is 7.5 per cent over four years, working out to two per cent in the first two years and 1.75 per cent in the final two years.
Parker said in an ongoing health-care staffing crisis, being offered wages below inflation or in lump sums will only drive needed staff out of the province and makes Alberta less enticing.
“We are in a health-care staffing crisis, and this government who sets the mandate for public sector bargaining, is telling health-care professionals in Alberta that they do not respect them and the services they provide for Albertans,” Parker said.
In a statement to Postmedia, AHS said it is committed to the bargaining process and looks forward to continuing discussions with HSAA.
“While the outcome of bargaining is not yet determined, any speculation at this stage would be premature,” the statement said.