Province looking ahead after resolving labour disputes
Posted Jan 19, 2010 06:16:36 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
One union boss says the last-minute talks that resulted in tentative contracts for both health and education workers signal a change in the government’s approach to negotiating.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees is recommending support staff at schools and hospitals outside HRM accept the contracts, which address the issue of wage parity with metro workers.
The school workers’ deal was reached late Sunday night, followed by the health contract on Monday morning – about 90 minutes after support staff hit the picket lines.
CUPE spokesman John McCracken says the union achieved the wage parity after 68 hours of negotiation.
“Both sides stayed through, right to the bitter end,” he said. “We have a tentative agreement, I’m happy to announce.”
Rick Clarke with the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour says previous governments would have rolled back wages or imposed a settlement, but the NDP seems committed to collective bargaining.
Deputy premier Frank Corbett says he’s relieved to have the labour deals settled on these two fronts, but he can’t relax for long – there are more than 200 public sector contracts up for renewal this spring.
In the wake of the brief strike, surgery schedules at Nova Scotia hospitals are expected to be back to normal as soon as today.
Elective procedures were cancelled in anticipation of a prolonged work stoppage, but services resumed within hours of the strike ending.
Thirty-two surgeries were cancelled at the QEII to make room for emergencies coming in from other hospitals.
A spokesman for Capital Health tells Metro News there was some overflow from the Bridgewater area, and now normal operation is nearly fully restored.
The cancelled surgeries will be rescheduled by each patient’s surgeon.
