The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
No strike date has been set, but health care support workers in Flin Flon, The Pas and Snow Lake are prepared to hit the picket lines if talks on a new contract fall apart. The employees, who include health care aides and staff within the maintenance, laundry, housekeeping, dietary and switchboard departments, have voted 90 per cent in favour of job action to attain what their union calls "better contract language." "There were many changes to the language in the new contact offered by the employer, which I think prompted our members to favour strike action," said Keiran Quinn, a member of the union's bargaining committee, in a press statement. "What this vote says is that our members are serious about addressing the language issue in the most recent offer and are not ruling out strike action." Quinn said one change in the contract language makes it unclear to the union whether employees have the flexibility to choose their vacation and northern leave days. The Service Employees International Union Local 600, which represents 350 health care support workers within the NOR-MAN Regional Health Authority, rejected the latest offer March 11. The health authority remains confident a deal can be reached that satisfies both sides. "We are optimistic that a collective agreement between SEIU and the NOR-MAN Regional Health Authority can be reached in the near future," said spokesperson Corliss Patterson. "We are currently waiting for the union to propose dates to return to the bargaining table."
