Nova Scotian nurses have been awarded a new collective agreement.
The Council of Nursing Unions, which is made up of several unions that represent Nova Scotian nurses, has been working with a mediator-arbitrator since May.
After Bill 148 legislated nurses wages, the council agreed to bring in a mediator to resolve issues that couldn’t be dealt with at the negotiating table.
Janet Hazelton, president of the Nova Scotia Nurses Union, says this brings all of the collective agreements in line.
“We had to as a group, come up with a proposal and obviously the unions, we wanted the best of everybody’s language, and the employer may or may not want that, so that’s what most of the negotiations were about.”
The agreement uses the same language for all unions and also means the adoption of some protocols across the board.
“We have critical capacity reports, so if a nurse feels that the work or patient load is too much … or a patient is dangerous or violent, there’s a mechanism, there’s forms to fill out, notifications to be made to our employer, and the employer has an obligation according to our collective agreement to mitigate these issues.”
This is the first contract the council collectively negotiated since Nova Scotia’s health authorities merged and became the Nova Scotia Health Authority.
“What it means is we have a collective agreement now with our biggest employer – the Nova Scotia Health Authority, so there will be no walk outs, there will be no strikes, it will be business as usual,” says Hazelton.
The contract is retroactive to 2014 and will be in place until 2020.
Although it won’t be long before the unions are at the bargaining table again, Hazelton says having this contract in place will make future negotiations more simple.
Contributed photo.
Story by Brittany Wentzell
Twitter: @BrittWentzell
Email: wentzell.brittany@radioabl.ca
