NSGEU applies to merge housing bargaining units

Move follows merger of three former authorities into the Western Regional Housing Authority.

Halifax (21 Dec. 2010) - The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU/NUPGE) has applied to the Nova Scotia Labour Relations Board (NSLRB) to merge three bargaining units representing workers employed by the province's new Western Regional Housing Authority (WRHA).

The province recently ordered that the former Tri-County Housing Authority, the South Shore Housing Authority and the Annapolis Valley Housing Authority be merged.

"In response to this decision, and after consultation with (the union's) bargaining committee, the NSGEU approached the province to request its agreement to consolidate the current unionized employees of the new WHRA into one bargaining unit and to apply the current Tri-County collective agreement to all of them," the union says.

"If they had agreed, the provisions of that collective agreement, including the 2.9% wage increase as of April 1, 2009, negotiated at Tri-County, would have applied to all unionized employees. After long deliberation this request was rejected," it adds.

"Therefore the NSGEU has now applied to the NSLRB to merge the three existing bargaining units and to order that the WRHA be bound by the Tri-County collective agreement. If this application is approved the current Tri-County agreement would be in place for all unionized employees of the WRHA and we would be able to initiate negotiations to establish a current collective agreement."

NSGEU says it will keep members up to date when it hears back from the board.

NUPGE

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE