Hamilton-Wentworth CCAC ratified first contract

TORONTO -- Members of Local 274 of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union at the Hamilton-Wentworth Community Care Access Centre have ratified their first OPSEU contract after protracted negotiations. The contract was ratified by a 75 per cent margin June 9.

The two-year contract runs from April 1, 1998 to March 31, 2000. Members will receive a pay equity increase of approximately 4 per cent, to be paid out within 30 days, and 1 per cent pay increases on each of April 1, 1998, Oct. 1, 1998, April 1, 1999 and Oct. 1, 1999.

The settlement, reached in conciliation, averted a potential strike by the centre’s 212 staff.

The staff includes case managers working with patients discharged from hospitals to provide appropriate home and outpatient care.

Case managers, the largest group, will see an increase of about 8 per cent at the end of the two years on annual pay rates. This will bring their starting rate to about $44,899 and their top rate to $53,354.

At the end of the contract, rates will range from a low of $25,783 for a starting therapy team assistant, to a high of $55,470 for senior therapists at the top of the scale.

Negotiator Tom Wood praised the negotiating team chaired by Pat Riddle with Julie Lenko and Sandra Campbell. "They really held out during a tough round of bargaining to get a decent settlement for their members," he said.

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