A tentative new collective bargaining agreement between SEIU-West and the province has been reached after 3 1/2 years.

The union, which represents 11,500 licensed practical nurses, special care aides, custodians, clerical staff and other professions working in acute care, long-term care, home care, primary health care, emergency medical, public and mental health services, will now review details of the contract before voting on it. Ratification must come within 60 days.

The government says the agreement will make a total of four collective agreements achieved by unions which, aside from affiliate organizations, are all now operating within a single provincial health authority.

While details of the tentative agreement are not known, union president Barbara Cape says in a release that it does not address critical understaffing and that the government needs to
appreciate that ‘care’ in health is interconnected among hospitals, long-term care, home care, and community and mental health services.”