Nurses still waiting eight months later for benefits signed in collective agreement
NL Health Services says work needed to be done taking longer than expected but will be sorted out this spring
The Registered Nurses’ Union of Newfoundland and Labrador (RNUNL) says its members have yet to receive all the benefits negotiated in its collective agreement signed eight months ago.
“This failure to implement our collective agreement is unacceptable,” RNUNL president Yvette Coffey said. “Our members are being nickeled and dimed at all levels. The disrespect shown by the employer and government is absolutely unacceptable.”
Despite numerous assurances and promises that nurses are valued and respected, actions by NL Health Services testify to a different reality, Coffey said.
“We negotiated a longservice premium to be paid for the dedicated registered nurses and nurse practitioners who have devoted their careers to our public health-care system, often at high cost to their personal lives and families, but they have not seen one red cent of that money,” she said.
On Monday, March 25, the RNUNL received correspondence from NL Health Services that the commitment to pay this premium by March 31 would not be met. NL Health Services also did not provide a revised timeline or reason for missing the promised deadline.
“Last week we heard this government tout a ‘record investment’ in health care – let me tell you, our members are not seeing it,” said Coffey. “The only thing that was mentioned was the mentorship program that we negotiated last August. There is no new investment dedicated to retaining nurses in our public health-care system.”
A statement provided by NL Health Services said it understands the frustration felt by nurses and apologizes for the delay in implementing and processing payments.
“We are working diligently to finalize this last remaining collective agreement incentive, and we appreciate the patience provided by both our nurses and the RNUNL,” the statement reads.
“The Long Service Premium required NL Health Services to manually review employees with at least 15, 20 and 25 years of service. In some cases, the information required predates the human resource (HR) information systems of the former regional health authorities. As a result, it has taken more time to understand the historical data stored in each legacy HR system. We anticipate that this final incentive will be implemented in spring 2024. The original anticipated timeline was winter 2024.