Last week, the Alberta Labour Relations Board published another new applications report. In it was an application for union certification.
The United Nurses of Alberta filed the application on Valentine’s Day on behalf of workers employed by Intercare Corporate Group.
Also known as Intercare Alberta, the Calgary-based company owns several long-term care facilities. This applications is specifically for all the workers at the company’s Southwood Care Centre who are involved “in direct nursing care or nursing instruction”.
This location, as with all the other locations that Intercare owns, is already unionized through Local 8 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
However, according to the certificate awarded by the Alberta Labour Relations Board, they technically represent just those working “in auxiliary nursing care and general support services”.
This would include licensed practical nurses, health care aides, resident care aides, therapy assistants, cooks, and maintenance workers. It would not include registered nurses or registered psychiatric nurses, which are the type of workers UNA represents.
If the UNA is successful, it’ll be the first Intercare workplace they’ve unionized since winning Chinook Care Centre in 2019.
The ALRB has scheduled a hearing for Monday, March 3, 2025 to entertain arguments from the employer and the union on why these workers should (or should not) unionize with the UNA.
If the ALRB approves the application, they will hold a certification vote, during which time the 33 workers will have a chance to democratically choose whether to unionize.
To submit an application, the union would’ve had to determine support from 40% of the workforce they’re trying to unionize. In this case, that would be 14 workers. If they all follow through and vote in favour of unionizing, they’d need to bring on just 3 more workers to get a simple majority.
Should the workers vote in favour of unionizing, their first order of business after being certified will be to form a bargaining committee and begin negotiating their first collective agreement.
For reference, it took UNA workers at Chinook Care Centre nearly 3 years after winning certification to get their first collective agreement.
Because the ALRB doesn’t archive their new application reports, I’ve included a copy of this report below for your convenience.
