|
Representatives from the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN), the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), and the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO) met on February 10, 11, and 12, to continue discussions.
During this session, SUN’s Negotiations Committee was pleased with both the approach taken by the parties, and the amount of progress made on several important items. Through dedicated and persistent conversations, key areas of alignment were found. These resulted in improved mechanisms for communication and information sharing, greater choice, and enhanced protections for SUN members in the event of various changes that could occur within the SHA, and within member’s specific work environments.
Efforts to problem solve in ways that would address the concerns of all parties led to several crucial agreed to’s being achieved. In particular, Article 28 was signed off on, and will now have improved language that comes with better and more clear choices for members, as well as requirements for written communication between the Employer, the member, and the union. This also included agreement on some key definitions regarding where SUN members will perform their duties, provide nursing services, and where their position will be based.
The parties also continued to exchange proposals and discussions related to Articles 26 and 45, where SUN remains firmly committed to ensuring member’s rights are recognized and upheld when it comes to community and multi-site positions as well as our float language. SAHO has committed to bringing examples to better explain some of their concerns with the language that has been going back and forth between the parties on these articles in our next sessions.
Initial discussions began regarding Article 37 with both parties outlining their issues and going through their initial proposals on the language within this article. These discussions led to the Employer coming back with a significantly different mind set within their latest proposals on this Article that may potentially move the parties closer on some aspects of the language within Article 37.
SUN’s Negotiations Committee is hopeful that, when conversations resume on February 24, 25, 26, and 27, the parties will return with the same commitment to solutions-focused dialogue in order to maximize the opportunity for even greater progress across the upcoming weeks of meetings.
|
