On July 6, 2017 the Institute and the employer signed the SH collective agreement. Today’s signing of the SH Group collective agreement follows the group’s ratification in March 2017 of the tentative agreement reached with the employer in December 2016. The employer has 120 days from the signature date to implement retroactive pay.
We have made significant non-monetary gains and have secured additional monetary gains for a number of professions in our group.
We secured important non-monetary gains including:
- A broadened definition of family in several articles to recognize the realities of today's family life for many of our members;
- Fewer restrictions on the use of family-related leave
- Improvements to personal leave and how it can be used
Importantly, we have reached a Memorandum of Understanding to address the safety and security concerns of members who provide health care services in remote and isolated communities.
On the monetary front, we moved the employer from its initial offer of 0.5% general economic increase to 1.25% per year for all our members. Given the four-year length of the agreement, the general economic increase would apply as of September 2014 and members would receive retro pay for the past years.
In addition to the general economic increase, we have secured other profession-specific financial gains.
We believe we have reached the very best negotiated deal possible in what has been a very challenging round of negotiations.
Being a group with nine professions it is difficult to achieve gains for all when it comes to profession-specific pay issues. We obviously still have work to do for the next round and we must continue to push Treasury Board for further improvements.
The Institute thanks members for their solidarity and support throughout the course of these tough negotiations.
Although we have made significant progress, we still have a lot of hard work ahead of us. For many members, negotiations continue. The Institute will continue to fight to achieve improvements in collective agreements for all our members. It is important that all members continue to stand together in solidarity to support each other. Together we are strong.
Seated:Joanne Bouchard (President, SH Group President) Debi Daviau (PIPSC President), Baxter Williams (Treasury Board), Zia Proulx (Treasury Board)
Standing (left to right):. Middle row: Colin Muise (SH), Ginette Tardif (SH), Dr. Howard Njoo (Treasury Board), Adam Sylvester (Treasury Board), Lynn Ohlson (SH)
Back row: Jean-Paul Leduc (PIPSC Negotiator), Eric Massey (SH), Bruno Gagnon (SH), Rick Smith (SH), Jeff Whitehead (SH), L. Col. Melissa Brooks (Treasury Board), Yves Beaupré (Treasury Board), Jennifer Hamilton (Treasury Board), Bonnie Beach (Treasury Board)