AAHP Pleased to have Contract Officially Signed
St. John’s, NL – The Association of Allied Health Professionals (AAHP) is pleased to confirm that the recently negotiated collective agreement has been signed by both the Government of NL and the AAHP. This marks the official conclusion of this contract process and the start of navigating and executing the new deal.
“We are very pleased to have this process finally concluded with signatures from our Union and government,” said Gord Piercey, President of AAHP. “We can now shift focus to ensuring commitments made in this new agreement are followed through in a timely manner.”
As part of this new contract, the AAHP is very proud to have secured a commitment from the provincial government to develop a new, fair Pay Grid for Health Professionals over the coming year. This has been an outstanding issue for AAHP members for almost a decade and finally the AAHP feels confident that members will soon receive the fair and equitable pay that reflects their skills, expertise, and contributions to our provincial health care system.
In the interim while the new grid is being developed, the contract delivers a new pensionable temporary hourly wage supplement for all allied health professionals as well as a pensionable wage adjustment for professions that are experiencing extraordinary recruitment and retention challenges, in order to help ensure wages are competitive.
“We know that this contract is not the solution to all of the challenges and frustrations our members face every day, but it is a step in the right direction and should create a foundation for us to continue building upon,” adds Piercey.
As a result of these measures, pay for allied health professionals in NL’s public health care system well exceed the average for their counterparts in Atlantic Canada and in some cases put them at the top. Furthermore, upon signing, members will receive a $2000 signing bonus and will see a 2% increase in salary for each of the four years of this contract. AAHP members will also receive a long-term service premium that recognizes their many years of dedication and will serve as a great retention incentive.
Overall, the union is pleased with this progress and plans to collaborate where possible with government to ensure that payments, commitments and contract terms are met without any time wasted. “Our members need to see action. They have waited long enough,” adds Piercey. “They are hard working, vital and dedicated healthcare professionals who deserve this contract and more. They are spread so thin, desperately trying to work to their full scope and meet the needs of patients. We need government to continue concentrating on retention strategies so allied health professionals get the support and resources they need to stay.”
The AAHP is a public sector bargaining unit representing more than 800 highly skilled health professionals who collectively provide a range of preventative, diagnostic, technical and therapeutic health-care and clinical support services across the lifespan and care continuum and in virtually all program areas within the health care system They contribute specialized expertise, education, research and leadership, and often work as integral members of collaborative health-care teams to improve the health and well-being of Newfoundland and Labradorians.
AAHP’s Membership represent over 22 different health care disciplines comprised mainly of regulated, community, clinical and therapeutic professions. Members of the allied health workforce deliver, support or inform direct patient care and have completed occupation-specific post-secondary education or training. They include anesthesia assistants, audiologists, auditory verbal therapists, dietitians, medical flight specialists, occupational therapists, pharmacists, physiotherapists, psychologists, sexologists, genetic counsellors, hyperbaric technologists, creative arts therapists, kinesiologists, orthoptists, pastoral care clinicians, prosthetists, orthotists, psychometrists, respiratory therapists, social workers and speech language pathologists.
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