14-Jan-2014

SAHO/SEIU Memorandum of Agreement Summary

A Memorandum of Agreement has been signed between SAHO and SEIU-West.

Highlights of the agreement are as follows:
 

Wages & Term – April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2017

April 1, 2012 – 2.0%
April 1, 2013 – 1.5%
April 1, 2014 – 1.5%
April 1, 2015 – 1.55%
April 1, 2016 – 1.95%

• Wage increases are applied to the base rate of pay.
• Market Supplements and/or Market Adjustments will be added to base rates of pay after applicable wage increases have been applied.

Retroactivity (for Employees of any Employer that is party to the Collective Agreement)

• All employees as of the date of ratification are eligible for retroactive wage adjustments on all paid hours.  
• Employees who have moved between employers shall apply to previous employers for that portion of the retroactivity.
• Employees who have retired shall be eligible for retroactive wage increases based on all paid hours up to and including the date of retirement.
• Employees who have been laid off subsequent to April 1, 2012 and are unable to maintain employment and are not on staff upon ratification will be eligible for retroactive wage increases based on all paid hours up to and including the date of lay-off.
• Employees who have passed away on or after April 1, 2012 are eligible for retroactivity. The estate of the employee must contact the employer and apply for such retroactivity.
• SEIU-West affiliated employees eligible for a retroactive wage adjustment pay will be paid in a “non-pay period” week.

Shift Differential

• The shift differential will increase from two dollars and ten cents ($2.10) per hour to two dollars and forty three cents ($2.43) per hour upon ratification.
• Effective October 1, 2014, the shift differential will increase from two dollars and forty three cents ($2.43) per hour to two dollars and seventy five cents ($2.75) per hour.

Weekend Differential

• Effective April 1, 2015, there will be an increase to the weekend differential from one dollar and eighty cents ($1.80) per hour to two dollars and twenty five cents ($2.25) per hour.

Standby

• Upon ratification all employees assigned to standby shall receive a standby premium as follows:

1. Three dollars and fifteen cents ($3.15) per hour for each hour on standby on a regular working day with a minimum payment for eight (8) hours; (increased from $2.19 per hour)
2. Four dollars and twenty five cents ($4.25) per hour for each hour on standby on days off and Statutory Holidays with a minimum payment for eight (8) hours (increased from $4.12 per hour)
3. Upon ratification, OTFT EMS employees shall be paid five dollars ($5.00) for each hour on Standby with a minimum payment of eight (8) hours each day on Standby (increased from $4.12 per hour)

Transportation

• Effective April 1, 2014, a monthly car allowance will be provided to employees required to use their vehicle for Employer business on a continuing basis, as  follows:

1. Fifty dollars ($50.00) per month for an employee who performs work during the month; plus
2. Nine dollars ($9.00) for each day the employee is required to use his or her own vehicle to perform work; to a maximum of one hundred dollars ($100) in a calendar month.

Professional Fees

• Effective April 1, 2014 the maximum reimbursement will be two hundred dollars ($200) increased from one hundred and seventy-five ($175) or the professional fee established by the professional association required to practice as of April 1, 2012, whichever is greater.
• Reimbursement for Employees working in two (2) or more Geographic Health Regions shall receive entitlement under this provision from a maximum of one (1) Employer only.

Mentorship Program (NEW) SEIU-West

• Mentoring involves a voluntary, mutual beneficial and long-term occupational relationship between Mentors and Mentees. Within one hundred and eighty (180) days of signing of the Collective Agreement, where the Employer determines they want to establish a mentorship program, the Union and the Employer shall commence discussions regarding the program.

Letter of Understanding regarding Extended Health and Enhanced Dental Benefits

• The Employer assures that the current level of benefits provided, pursuant to the Extended Health and Enhanced Dental Benefits Plan as of April 1, 2012, will continue at no cost to the employee, until March 31, 2017.

Letter of Understanding #8 Re: Contracting Out

1. The Employer will not be restricted by this understanding from continuing its historical employment practices including but not limited to contracting out of work of the bargaining unit.

2. When contracting out of bargaining unit work is being contemplated, the Employer will advise the union as soon as reasonably practicable, but in any event shall not be less than four (4) months prior to a decision being made by the employer.

The Employer will advise of the department/facility/agency or services that may be affected.  At the request of either party the parties will meet to discuss the contemplated contracting out situation.

3. When contracting out of bargaining unit work is required, and bargaining unit work is to be abolished, the Employer will provide notice to the union as soon as possible after the decision to contract out has been made, but in any event, shall give no less than four (4) months notice to the union.

4. If the Employer contracts out work of the bargaining unit and full-time or part-time position(s) are to be abolished;

a.  Article 12 will apply to those affected employees with less than three (3) years seniority; and

b.  Employees  with three (3) or more years of seniority, who are affected by the abolishment of bargaining unit work,  shall have access, in order of seniority, to one (1) of the following options:

i. Where the employee’s existing job remains, the employee may choose to maintain their job.

ii. The employee may choose to voluntarily terminate employment with the Employer and access an enhanced severance package. This enhanced severance package would include the normal severance calculation in addition to a separation allowance of five hundred dollars ($500) per year of seniority (1948.8 hours) up to a maximum of six thousand dollars ($6000). 

Partial years of seniority will be credited on a pro-rated basis.

iii. The employee may choose to be redeployed into vacancies, including hard to recruit positions, with mutual agreement between the Union and the Employer. If redeployment efforts are not successful then the employee may choose from options ii, iv, v, vi within this LOU or layoff options as per Article 12.

Employees who are redeployed may be placed into the same classification from which they were laid off or into a classification for which they have the necessary qualifications, including equivalencies, required to fill the position and ability to perform the work. 

Employees placed into such positions are subject to a trial period as per Article 12.10. Failure of the trial period will make the employee eligible for further redeployment or an enhanced severance package.

iv. The employee may choose to access unpaid leave in order to complete a training/educational program to obtain a qualification required for a classification within the Regional Health Authority. The Employer will reimburse the employee for actual expenses related to tuition, enrollment fees, books and supplies needed for the training/educational program to a maximum of eight thousand five hundred dollars ($8500) (inclusive of any amount received through the Career Adjustment Assistance Program). 

This unpaid leave would be for a maximum of three (3) years. Extensions may be granted as mutually agreed between the parties. After completing the training/education program the employee shall be placed on a re-employment list for a period of thirty-six (36) months, retain seniority and be eligible to apply for vacant positions. It is the employee’s obligation to apply for positions of interest. The employee shall not be entitled to select severance after exercising this option and having received any reimbursement. Employees who select this option are entitled to work for the Regional Health Authority;

v. Upon abolishment of their full-time or part-time position, an employee may choose to work as a casual employee in a job classification as per the terms of Article 11.10. 

vi. Employees who do not select one of the preceding options shall be placed on an unpaid leave for up to three (3) years and shall be entitled to apply for any vacancy in accordance with Article 11.05 for which they have the necessary qualifications required to fill the position and ability to perform the work. Where an employee is awarded and accepts a position for which they have applied and successfully pass the trial period, the employee shall no longer be eligible for an enhanced severance package as per 4(b)(ii) above.

The provisions of vi. would not preclude an employee from choosing options from 12.03 (b) which would allow the employee to be eligible to apply for Employment Insurance benefits. 

After the unpaid leave expires and the employee has not been successful in obtaining a position, or has declined to accept a vacancy for which he/she would otherwise be successful, the employee shall be considered terminated and shall be paid an enhanced severance package as per 4(b)(ii) above. The time spent on unpaid administrative leave shall not be used in the calculation of the enhanced severance package.

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