OPSEU First Vice-President / Treasurer
Patty Rout, a native of Oshawa with more than 30 years experience as a labour activist, was elected First Vice-President/Treasurer of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union in April, 2007.
Sister Patty is a medical laboratory technologist employed at Lakeridge Health Corporation, in Oshawa. She was elected to her current position at OPSEU’s bi-annual leadership convention in 2007.
In this position, she is the highest-ranking woman in OPSEU, and in this capacity serves as OPSEU’s representative to the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), and the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL).
As treasurer, she has the responsibility for OPSEU’s multi-million dollar budget, accounting, OPSEU’s infrastructure (OPSEUDirect, building services), OPSEU’s greening policy, leasing and real estate, among other portfolios. She’s also on the Hospitals of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) board of directors.
As vice-president she continues to be OPSEU’s voice for health care, speaking out on the issues and attending health care related meetings at the OFL, Ontario Health Coalition, and NUPGE. “Keeping health care in public hands, affordable and universal is my goal,” she says.
Previously, she was chair of OPSEU’s Hospital Professional Division (HPD) for eight years (1999-2007), and chair of the union’s Health Care Divisional Council for much of that time. She has been an Executive Board Member of OPSEU since 2005.
Patty received her certification as a laboratory technologist at Peterborough Civic Hospital in 1973 and worked at Oshawa General before moving briefly to Edmonton, where she worked as a technologist at University Hospital. For the past 30-plus years she has worked in her current position, as a laboratory technologist at Oshawa General (now Lakeridge Health).
In 1976, she was elected president of OPSEU Local 348 representing workers at Oshawa General, where she was chair of the hospital’s joint occupational health and safety committee.
She served on the HPD bargaining team, and was sector chair, when the OPSEU Hospital Professionals Division held its Day of Action in 2003. For Patty, this was one of her proudest moments as an OPSEU member and a health care worker.
She was a director and auditor of the Durham Labour Council and continues to be a grassroots activist for labour in Durham Region, and across OPSEU.
Rout is driven by what she calls her sense of fairness. Her other interests include child care, women’s issues, seniors’ issues, and equity in the workplace and the community.
“I truly believe all people, regardless of their status in society, must be treated fairly. People should not be out there on the street, without work, when there is work. People should be fed and not have to go to bed hungry. Poverty is not for children – or adults. If I can help change people for the better, then that’s what motivates me. And I feel good about it.”
Patty has a very supportive family: She is married to Chuck Rout, and they have a wonderful daughter, Stacey, who also works in the health care field. Patty grew up in the labour movement in Oshawa and has been actively supporting the rights of working people all her life. |
