Union to get raise

By Dan Hilborn
Published July 1, 2006


Unionized housekeepers, laundry and dietary service workers at the Normanna rest home in Burnaby and the Evergreen Baptist Home in White Rock will receive wage increases of up to 24 per cent over the next two years, thanks to a B.C. Labour Relations Board arbitrator's ruling handed down this week.

Arbitrator Brian Foley announced on Monday that he will uphold the terms of a mediated agreement reached in April after more than a year of negotiations between the Hospital Employees' Union and the Canadian division of U.K.-based Compass Group.

"The 24 per cent may sound like a lot - and it is if you're making $9.86 an hour - but it says something about what's happening to the labour market and health care," said Mike Old, spokesperson for the Hospital Employees' Union. "We've had a very difficult time getting Compass to negotiate, so this is a pretty positive development for our members."

The agreement, which translates into pay raises of up to $2.32 an hour for some of the workers, is the same one that union members voted 100 per cent in favour of when it was first recommended by the mediator in April. At the time, the proposal was rejected by the company.

Brenda Brown, vice-president of human resources for Compass's Canadian head office, said on Wednesday that the company is reviewing the LRB ruling and has no further comment at this time.

"At this point we're reviewing the decision and we're not making a decision as to what we're going to do," Brown said. "We're reviewing our options."

The settlement, which is retroactive to May 1, 2006, gives HEU members at the two facilities immediate pay raises of between $1 and $1.32 an hour, and a further $1 an hour increase on Jan. 1, 2007. The proposal also includes lump sum payments, shift differential premiums and transportation allowances.

The contract is in line with the wages paid by Compass's major competitors - Aramark and Sodexho - and comes as the HEU continues its negotiations on behalf of more than 1,000 Compass dietary and housekeeping workers in the Provincial Health Services Authority and the Vancouver Island Health Authority.

The union is hoping the award will encourage the company to adopt a more 'realistic bargaining position' in its negotiations for the other contracts, said an HEU press release.

"Compass needs to look beyond the bottom line and take its responsibilities to B.C. patients and workers more seriously," HEU secretary-business manager Judy Darcy said in a prepared statement.

Those further contract talks between the HEU and Compass broke off last week, and the union is now seeking a strike mandate.