Front-line health care workers reject tentative agreement with AHS

The Health Science Association of Alberta says members have voted against a new tentative agreement, calling on the province for a better offer.

Members of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA) have rejected a tentative agreement with Alberta Health Services (AHS), with the majority of voters striking it down Wednesday.

A statement from HSAA said 78 per cent of eligible members cast their ballots between Aug. 28 and Sept. 10 and 59.37 per cent voted against the tentative agreement.

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“Today, HSAA members are sending a message,” said president Mike Parker in the statement. “Frontline health care professionals are rejecting a deal that does not do enough to support them.”

The HSAA represents more than 22,000 specialized health care workers including paramedics, diagnostic imaging specialists, mental health and addiction counsellors, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, physiotherapists, dietitians, social workers and more than 200 other professions.

A strike vote is not being called at this time, said the HSAA. Instead, the union is urging AHS and the province to bring forward an improved wage offer.

“We face a dangerous shortage of health care professionals in this province. Albertans see it every day in longer wait times, overwhelmed emergency rooms, delayed surgeries and therapies, and the prolonged agony of waiting for care,” said Parker.

“Our members are living these challenges alongside patients, often facing unmanageable workloads, short staffing, and burnout that is driving professionals out of the system.”

Minister of finance and treasury board president Nate Horner said the province is ready to return to the bargaining table.

“I am disappointed that AHS and the HSAA have not ratified a new collective agreement,” said Horner in a statement. “I note that unlike other failed ratifications involving a mediator’s recommendations, the tentative agreement was based on terms and conditions proposed by HSAA and recommended by the union to their members.”

He said now it is up to the union to determine why the vote failed in their own proposed deal.