Workers at Mariposa Gardens voted overwhelmingly for a strike mandate on Wednesday as talks between management and the union appear stalled.
Janine Brooker, bargainer for the Health Employees Union (HEU) said the vote in support of a strike was 97 per cent.
The strike vote doesn’t necessarily mean there will be a strike, but it provides the union with the option to call one if there is no further progress in contract talks.
Brooker said wages and workload are among the major issues separating the sides.
The union is trying to negotiate a three-year contract.
Management, she said, has offered wage increases of 1.3 per cent in the first year, followed by one per cent in each of the two following years.
The union has asked for 1.5, 2.5 and two per cent increases, to give them some relief on retroactive pay, she said, but essentially the union was looking at average increases of two per cent.
The Osoyoos Times sought comment from management at Mariposa Sienna Senior Living on Friday, but no response had been received when this story was posted late Friday afternoon.
Brooker described other issues such as workload as “huge.”
The problem, she said, is that because wages haven’t kept pace in relation to wages offered by Interior Health, Mariposa Gardens has had difficulties recruiting and retaining staff. And this has meant remaining staff has been overworked.
Brooker said the union understands that wages at Mariposa Gardens will never match those offered by Interior Health.
The union is also concerned that assisted-living workers aren’t appropriately compensated.
“They [management] request full qualifications the same as a care aide, but they pay them approximately three dollars an hour less than that,” she said.
Brooker said the union has been in touch with the B.C. Labour Relations Board about negotiating essential services that would need to be covered in the event of a strike. Under the B.C. Labour Relations Code, services are considered essential if losing them creates an immediate serious danger to health and safety.
Brooker said she’s not received further information from management about any new offer, even though she said she was promised responses in late June and then early July.
“They told me that they would have something for me by July 6, but I haven’t heard from them since,” she said. “I feel like I’m playing a game of hide and seek with the employer.”
She said the union wants to negotiate a settlement.
“We think that there are small areas where we can move if we need to, but you can’t move if they don’t talk to you,” she said.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
