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<\/p>\nWith a minute left before nurses across Alberta were set to go on strike, the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) reached a tentative deal with the provincial government.<\/p>\n
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\u201dIt\u2019s been grueling. It\u2019s been frustrating at times, because we sometimes don\u2019t know who we\u2019re bargaining with, so calls need to be made to get authorization,\u201d said Sanda Azocar, AUPE president, at a press conference in Edmonton.<\/p>\n
Azocar said negotiations would last most days until 11 p.m., but Friday\u2019s lasted until 1 o\u2019clock Saturday morning. She said the final call from the province came in Saturday morning, moments before the 8:30 a.m. strike deadline.<\/p>\n
\u201dThis deal may not include 100 per cent of what we asked for, but it sets a new standard in health care and more broadly in the labor movement,\u201d said Azocar.<\/p>\n
After almost 20 months of negotiations, in the final days leading up to the deal, 98 per cent of Alberta\u2019s 16,000 health-care employees represented by the union, had voted in favour of a strike.<\/p>\n
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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith addressed the settlement during her weekly radio show on Saturday.<\/p>\n
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\u201dWe\u2019re very hopeful that with that recommendation that we will see an end to labour action,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people up very late last night trying to bridge that final gap.\u201d<\/p>\n
The deal would see union members receive a three per cent wage increase each year, over four years \u2013 a 12 per cent wage increase.<\/p>\n
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Initially hesitant to accept the province\u2019s offer of a 12 per cent increase, lead negotiator for AUPE Kate Robinson said that changed once the province included a retroactive adjustment for health-care workers.<\/p>\n
\u201dWe believe that that reflected the value that these workers add to the health-care system retroactively. So it\u2019s not just the the market adjustments, what we have seen in other deals, it\u2019s that they were effective date of ratification. These market adjustments go back all the way to April 1st, 2024,\u201d said Robinson.<\/p>\n
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