BMHC workers frustrated by Elmgrove transfer and potential job losses

Frustration is mounting for employees of the Brockville Mental Health Centre as they watch the transfer of services to Brockville General Hospital without any guarantees they will still have jobs once the process is complete.

"While the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group crows about the fabulous job it’s doing and hands out promotion after promotion to senior managers who will earn even more money, the fact is our members are being kept in the dark by an employer who prefers to dictate rather than negotiate the impact its restructuring decisions will have on our members," said Dave Lundy, regional vice president for the Ontario Public Service Employees Union in eastern Ontario.

"At the very time that Brockville is suffering from high unemployment and dim job prospects, we have a major employer like ROHCG shutting down services and when it’s not it moves well-paying, skilled jobs to Ottawa and other places."

Of immediate concern to the union is the potential loss of about 80 clinical and support staff positions at BMHC as a result of the transfer of the Elmgrove acute care mental health unit to BGH.

In fact, the ROHCG now says responsibility for the labour adjustment plan is in the hands of Brockville General and its CEO Ray Marshall, contrary to what the union had earlier been led to believe.

OPSEU believes a bad situation is being made worse by senior management which, in a year-end memo to all staff, acknowledged a serious "staff morale" problem in Brockville.

"Ray Marshall can do something about this morale problem by rolling up his sleeves and working hard to ensure that not one job is lost through the transfer process," said Lundy.

"All we’re looking for at the moment is for management to agree to some timelines where we can discuss the labour adjustment plan. That would be a good starting point."