Unionized workers at Mariposa Gardens Retirement Residence in Osoyoos have voted overwhelmining in favour of strike action as talks between the union and management at Sienna Senior Living have broken off.
Janine Brooker, a negotiator with the Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU), told PentictonNow in a phone interview that more than 97 % of the 140 unionized workers at Mariposa Gardens voted in favour of strike action during a vote held last week.
Because those who work in the industry taking care of seniors are considered essential service workers, the next step is to negotiate an “essential services agreement” that must be approved by the provincial labour board, said Brooker.
“We would determine which services are considered essential and a list of which services aren’t deemed essential and then begin to withdraw those services that aren’t considered essential as a form of job action,” she said.
There key issues in this dispute remain wages and workload as wages are $5 and $6 below what employees doing the same kind of work at Interior Health are making, said Brooker.
“Because of the wages, it’s become very difficult to maintain staff and that means there has been significant workload issues,” she said. “It’s fair to say wages and workload are at the heart of this disagreement.”
The unionized employees have been working without a contract since the end of November, she said.
Management has offered a wage package that includes increases of 1.3 % in the first year and 1 % in each of the following two years, compared to the union’s demands for increases of 1.5, 2.5 and 2 % over the course of a proposed three-year deal, she said.
While union members know they will not be receiving wage increases to match what counterparts with Interior Health are making, the reality is Sienna Senior Living is running a very profitable operation at Mariposa Gardens and those profits should be shared by the employees who make the facility a wonderful home for its 120 or so residents, she said.
Brooker said she has already made contact with the B.C. Labour Relations Boared about beginning negotations related to the essential services agreement.
“All services done by our members that ensure the health and safety of the residents must continue to be performed no matter what happens,” she said. “Those services that don’t endanger the health and safety of the residents can be negotiated and that’s what we’re in the process of beginning discussions about.”
There hasn’t been any progress on the key issues of wages and workload since the end of May, said Brooker.
“They flatly rejected our last wage package,” she said. “And I can’t really do any negotiating when the company you’re dealing with is playing hide and seek ever since.”
Once an essential services agreement is approved by the Labour Relations Board, the union would have the option of providing 72-hour notice to begin an official strike, she said.
There hasn’t been any discussion about moving forward with that big step, but things could change of Sienna Senior Living management refuses to return to the bargaining table, she said.
The best option remains a return to the bargaining table and hammering out a deal that the union, its workers and Sienna management are comfortable with, she said.
“The last thing we want to do is go on strike because that is what would hurt the residents the most,” she said. “We’re still hoping we can get back to the bargaining table and work out a new collective agreement.”
There has been progress on issues like contract language and overtime, but very little progress on the key issues of wages and workload since negotiations started several weeks ago, she said.
Management from Sienna Senior Living are not commenting about the labour dispute.
There has never been a strike between management and unionized employees at Mariposa Gardens since it opened in 2008.
For more information about Mariposa Gardens Retirement Residence, visit the website at www.siennaliving.ca.
