Alberta Health Services and a hospital support staff union have agreed to continue negotiations after some Calgary workers walked off the job.

AHS reached an agreement Thursday afternoon with the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) for binding arbitration and to have staff back at work within hours. The agreement also stated there will be no legal action or workplace discipline taken against the workers, says AUPE.

About a hundred workers — including porters, operating room cleaners and administrative assistants — had taken part in rallies outside Rockyview General Hospital and the Peter Lougheed Centre earlier on Thursday.

AUPE support staff workers in Edmonton had also walked off the job at the Royal Alexandra Hospital and University Hospital Thursday morning. A union representative said nine facilities took part in the strike action across the province.

About 22,000 General Support Services employees have been in negotiations with Alberta Health Services (AHS) after their contract expired last spring.

Hundreds are now taking part in a rally outside the hospital. CBC

“AHS shouldn’t be surprised that people are walking out," said AUPE president Guy Smith in a release earlier in the day. "They provoked this by putting an offer on the table that was less than what our members already rejected. That’s a stick in the eye.”

The walkout even caught union leaders by surprise Thursday morning, pre-empting a series of rotating information pickets scheduled for Thursday around the province.

AHS had to enact a contingency plan in all of the affected sites, with management staff providing services such as meal delivery, portering and room cleaning.

AHS said it hoped to resume all diagnostic tests and scheduled procedures as soon as possible. Any surgeries that were cancelled because of the strike action would be rescheduled, and patients would be contacted on Friday to set new times.

Negotiations broke down

General Support Services employees manage health records, prepare meals, manage finances, maintain facilities, assist in therapy, sterilize surgical tools, assist pharmacists and provide security.

'AHS came back to the bargaining table and put less money on the table than the mediator recommended.'— AUPE president Guy Smith

In January, the workers' bargaining unit rejected a mediator's contract recommendations by an overwhelming 95 per cent, prompting AHS to come back to the bargaining table, said the union.

The two sides met last week to resume negotiations.

“AHS came back to the bargaining table and put less money on the table than the mediator recommended,” said Smith.

AUPE walked away from mediated negotiations last week.

AUPE is Alberta's largest union, with almost half of its 80,000 members working in health care.