HSAA members have ratified a tentative agreement with AHS (Photo: Alberta Health Services)

By Drew Stremick/LethbridgeNewsNOW

HSAA members ratify tentative agreement with AHS

Jul 26, 2022 | 5:14 AM

EDMONTON – The Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA) announced on July 25that its members employed by Alberta Health Services (AHS) have voted in favour to accept a tentative collective agreement.

According to a news release, 85 per cent of HSAA members voted in favour of the agreement, which covers from April 1, 2020 through to March 31, 2024.

HSAA vice president Leanne Alfaro says its members have worked tirelessly to support Albertans over the last two years.

“HSAA members are health care professionals who are there for Albertans in their most critical times,” said Alfaro. “Never has that been made clearer than through COVID-19. Despite the gains in this agreement, we feel this government and AHS still have a long way to go to fully express the appreciation that our members deserve for their sacrifices.”

The agreement, which impacts roughly 20,000 of the HSAA’s 29,000 members, includes a pay increase of 4.25 per cent over four years, which has been broken up into stages. The first one per cent of the increase is retroactive to Oct. 1, 2021, then a 1.2 per cent increase on Sept. 1, 2022, and the final two per cent on April 1, 2023.

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The pay increase was a significant development, as AHS had initially proposed wage rollbacks for almost half of HSAA members.

HSAA president Mike Parkers says they are pleased with the final outcome.

“Bargaining fair collective agreements is perhaps the most important thing we do on behalf of our membership,” said Parker. “We are pleased that our members overwhelmingly supported the hard work of our committee. At the same time, work on our next round has already begun.”

The HSAA stated in a news release that the agreement also includes important progress on benefits, and other work/life balance provisions.