Alberta nurses file unfair labour practice against AHS

Earlier this week, the United Nurses of Alberta announced they had submitted an unfair labour practice with the Alberta Labour Relations Board.

In their complaint, they highlight that the Government of Alberta’s recent decision to move mental health practioners from Alberta Health Services to a new government entity called “Recovery Alberta”.

UNA claims that AHS’s plans to move over 3,000 nurses to Recovery Alberta violate their collective bargaining agreement.

According to the UNA, their current contract, in the case of a transfer of programming, UNA members can choose whether to participate in that transfer.

In Letter of Understanding #4 of their most recent collective agreement, for example, it says in part:

In the event that a Service has been transferred pursuant to #1, Employees affected directly shall have, in addition to rights specified in Article 15: Layoff and Recall, the right to transfer to the newly created positions within the other bargaining unit, to the extent that such positions are avail

The current collective agreement UNA has with AHS expired at the end of month. As such, the union had served notice to the employer back in December that they wanted to begin bargaining on the new contract.

AHS responded to them the following month, and the two parties met 9 times since 6 February. According to the application UNA filed to the ALRB, at no time during any of those bargaining sessions did AHS “provide any additional information to UNA regarding the reorganization of services provided by AHS and other healthcare organizations.”

UNA claims that the following was the only information they received from AHS:

On December 1, 2023 and in advance of the commencement of bargaining, Alberta Health Services wrote to UNA stating that there would be an initiative from the Government of Alberta to “shift” functions from AHS into different, new organizations that focus on one of Primary Care, Continuing Care, and Mental Health and Addictions. AHS stated that the majority of unionized employees worked in what AHS expected would be considered Acute Care which would likely remain an AHS function, but AHS expected “some reductions in positions within UN A’s AHS bargaining unit,” that AHS would update UNA, meet and discuss impacts to bargaining unit positions with UNA throughout the process, and “work with UNA in accordance with any obligations under the collective agreement and the Labour Relations Code.”

Kerry Bales, AHS’s chief program officer with Mental Health & Addiction and Correctional Health Services, said in a presser on 2 April 2024 that

I’d like to take a moment to thank our staff and physicians for their continued commitment and compassion. Your work remains essential to the people that we serve. Please know we‘re going to do everything we can to ensure the transition occurs with as little disruption to you as possible. The transfer from AHS to Recovery Alberta will not result in any changes to terms and conditions of employment.

Bales went on to call the new approach to health care delivery in the province “unique” as well as “genuinely proactive, collaborative, and coordinated”.

When a reporter from Radio-Canada asked Alberta’s premier, Danielle Smith, about the lack of consultation with frontline workers, Smith passed off the question to Bales. His response was that they didn’t consult with frontline workers on the decision to transfer services, but that they promise to consult on how the transfer is implemented.

In their application, UNA accused AHS of not negotiating in good faith, in their apparent effort to transition “approximately 10% of its members to a new employer without regard to their existing CBA rights”.

UNA is asking the ALRB to declare that AHS has violated the Labour Relations Code.

The also want the ALRB to direct AHS to bargain in good faith and to stop emailing workers directly regarding the transfer to Recovery Alberta.

Finally, they have asked for “general damages” from AHS in their application, as a direct result of what they claim is AHS’s interference with their representational rights and the right of frontline workers to be represented.