president Mike Pisak.

¢ L.to r. are co-ordinator Darlene Mauthe, executive director Nada Chelvam, employee Grant Stewart and Local 1-207

cunt? Bs

Alberta local union diversifies to
represent workers in home care

by Wayne Rothe

LW.A. CANADA Local 1-207 has ne-
gotiated the first collective agreement
that employees of the Vegreville Asso-
ciation for Living In Dignity have ever
had.

Faced with the prospect of continu-
ing wage cuts, the 25 employees are
pleased with the new agreement. It
gives them competitive wages and
other gains in a time of severe belt
tightening by the Alberta government.
Perhaps more importantly, the em-
ployees believe the concessions will
help them improve the level of service
they provide to their clients.

The association operates four group
homes for 20 adult clients with physi-
cal and mental disabilities in Vegre-
ville, which is 110 km east of
Edmonton.

It’s probably the first time that any
I.W.A. CANADA local has bargained
on behalf of a group of employees
working in community rehabilitation.
It's certainly the first time the Edmon-
ton-based Local 1-207 has represented
employees such as these. Other locals
have negotiated for similar groups,
such as home care employees in BC,
but this remains an unusual area for
trade unions.

Local 1-207 became certified in
June 1993 to bargain with the private-
ly run Vegreville Association for Liv-
ing in Dignity (VALID). The VALID
employees had come to I.W.A. Local

1-207 to ask for union representation
in their effort to get a better deal on
wages and other aspects of their em-
ployment.. The new agreement was
signed in December 1994, after a year
and a half of talks.

MANY HIGH-FUNCTIONING CLIENTS
VALID group homes look like typi-
cal houses in regular residential
neighbourhoods. Each one houses
several clients, with many of the resi-
dents enrolled in outside programs.
The clients mostly care for them-
selves and do routine work at their
homes, such as house cleaning and
yard maintenance. Many of the clients
work at jobs in the community, such
as janitors or in other positions.
“VALID has many high-functioning
clients who are able to work in out-
side jobs,” comments executive direc-
tor Nada Chelvam. “This is one of the
important programs that we provide
to our clients. There is very strong

support for VALID by the communi-

By working, clients not only earn
money, but they also develop job and
social skills. Their jobs give them a
purpose in life. They help them to im-
prove their self-esteem and become
contributing members of society.
VALID also operates a business that
employs its clients, including a sec-
ond-hand shop that sells donated, re-
stored articles. This business hasn’t
produced a profit, but it meets what
may be a more important objective:
providing opportunities to train some
of its clients.

VALID has had a recycling program
for newspapers for a few years and re-
cently launched a project to collect
and process waste material for recy-
cling with the Town of Vegreville. The
Town renovated an old curling rink
and bought equipment for processing
waste material such as cardboard,
plastic and glass. It provides more
jobs for clients and a much needed
service for the community.

VALID hasn’t been able to provide
across-the-board wage increases dur-
ing the past two years because of
funding reductions of 3.3 and 2 per-
cent. Employees believe this has ham-
pered the level of service to their
clients.

“We've never been given the kind of
money we need to meet the needs of
the clients,” Mr. Chelvam says. How-
ever, with some realistic spending
cuts and management restructuring,
VALID was able to find the necessary
funds to negotiate competitive wages
for staff.

VALID employees had been facing
the same kind of job uncertainty as
other provincially-funded employees.
The new agreement came at a time
when government-funded employees
in Alberta have been taking pay cuts,
or losing their jobs.

“We were able to get an increase
through some hard-nosed bargaining,”
says Mr. Chelvam.

It’s unusual to spend 18 months in
negotiations. However, that was the
case with VALID, largely because the
union was unfamiliar with bargaining
with this kind of employer. Consider-
able uncertainty over severe spending
cuts by the Alberta Social Services de-
partment also hampered the talks.

“It was a tough set of negotiations,”

“Government cut-backs meant we had
to be a little creative in the negotia-
tions. It seemed that every time we
came back to the negotiating table,
the government came out with some
new direction that affected funding.
That will continue to be a great chal-
lenge.”

Previously, employees had been
paid at rates that often seemed to be
at the whim of management. The new
agreement gives staff a formal wage
grid, so they know what they can be
earning in two years and in five years.
Pay rates are based on years of ser-
vice, with guidelines established so
employees know the expectations and
how they can earn wage increases.
Annual performance reviews will be
conducted, so employees know how
their work meets expectations.

“WERE HERE TO SERVE OUR CLIENTS”

VALID staff aren’t motivated solely
by money. Employee Grant Stewart,
who served on the negotiating com-
mittee, says VALID employees sin-

Photo by Wayne Rothe

cerely want to provide the best ser-
vice they can for their clients.

“Money was a concern,” he says,
“put not all of the issues involved
money. If you're happier when you're
working, that rubs off on your clients.

In addition to raises, employees got
other concessions they felt were im-

Government cut-
backs meant that the
union committee had
to be creative in
negotiations

portant to improve the level of service
for clients. For example, management
has agreed to improve communication
with staff. The employees had be-
lieved they had been poorly informed,
unaware of the issues that had affect-
ed them.

Nada Chelvam believes poor com-
munication had been damaging
morale. “I believe strongly that the
more information employees have,
the better they do their jobs,” he says.

“We want to be able to service our
clients better.”

Communication has improved mea-
surably, largely because of the recent
negotiations. Employee negotiators
had an unprecedented opportunity to
learn about the organization and the
issues that affect staff, and to share
that information with their co-work-
ers.

Mr. Chelvam also believes that
somewhat of “an adversarial” relation-
ship had existed between VALID em-
ployees prior to his arrival in
December 1993. Those tensions have
been reduced with the new collective
agreement.

“The employees feel relieved that.
there have been some gains and they
can get on with their lives,” he says.
“We're here to serve our clients and
we can’t have all those distractions.
This is a very positive thing.”

For the I.W.A, the most unusual as-
pect of the negotiations was dealing
with an organization that it had never
faced across the bargaining table.
“We've never dealt with this type of
employer or represented these kinds
of employees before,” says Mr. Pisak.
“This negotiation was interesting and
most challenging.”

There were other differences in
these talks. Negotiators were able to
study VALID’s audited financial state-
ments, which isn’t permitted in tradi-
tional bargaining.

Continued on page thirteen

12/LUMBERWORKER/JUNE, 1995