OPSEU First vice president and Treasurer
Patty Rout, a native of Oshawa with more than 30 years
experience as a labour activist, was elected First vice president and Treasurer
of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union in April, 2007.
The 55-year old medical laboratory technologist at Lakeridge
Health Corp., in Oshawa, was elected at OPSEU’s bi-annual leadership convention
attended by more than 1,600 delegates, guests and observers.
Rout enjoys an enviable record of activism in OPSEU’s health
care sector in many campaigns for improved wages, health and safety standards,
and working conditions. Prior to her election as an executive board member, Rout
was chair of OPSEU’s Hospital Professional Division and chair of the union’s
Health Care Divisional Council.
She 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.
On returning to Ontario, Rout plunged into activism with OPSEU
where, in 1976, she was elected president of Local 348 representing workers at
Oshawa General (now Lakeridge Health Corp.)
Rout has been a labour representative to countless boards,
committees and coalitions. She has taken an active role with the Durham Labour
Council where she has served as a director and auditor. At Lakeridge, she was
chair of the hospital’s joint occupational health and safety committee.
Rout is driven by what she calls her sense of fairness.
“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.”
An avid baseball fan and occasional softball player herself,
Rout is married to husband Chuck Rout. They have an adult daughter. |
