Employees at Ste. Anne’s Hospital in the West Island of Montréal have voted 100 per cent (category 4) and 94 per cent (category 2) in favour of the new local provisions of their collective agreement. In so doing, they are winning significant improvements to their working conditions following a challenging transition after the federal government transferred the hospital to the province.

“We are very pleased with this agreement, because our members now enjoy the same local provisions as the Montréal West Island Integrated University Health and Social Services Centre as a whole,” confirmed CUPE Local 5297 President Jonathan Deschamps.

Notable improvements include a requirement that all category 4 positions requiring a bachelor’s degree now have a 90-day, rather than 120-day, probation period.

Additionally, the employer will be obliged in the future to offer temporary category 2 positions involving at least 30 day’s employment to interested workers in order of seniority to provide them access to better working hours and promotions.

The parties came to an agreement in principle on January 26 following six months of bargaining. This is the first local agreement since the transfer to provincial jurisdiction. Ste. Anne’s Hospital was the last federal hospital in the country until April 2016.

With more than 110,000 members, CUPE-Quebec is affiliated with the FTQ, the largest central labour body in Quebec, which represents more than 600,000 workers. CUPE has 643,000 members across Canada. CUPE is active across a broad range of sectors in Quebec including communications, education, universities, energy, municipalities, Quebec government corporations and public agencies, air transportation, public transit and the mixed sector.