January 31, 2003

Standard-Freeholder (Cornwall)

Fri 31 Jan 2003

Page: 5

Section: Local

Byline: Terri Saunders

Source: Standard-Freeholder

CORNWALL - A health-care union representative says local members will participate in a one-day protest being planned for next month.

Kathy Mitchell is a spokesperson for Local 402 of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.

Mitchell said Thursday about 70 staff working at Hotel Dieu Hospital will walk off the job on Feb. 13.

"If the Ontario Hospital Association doesn't return to the bargaining table, we will participate."

On Wednesday, hospital executive director Jeanette Despatie said she didn't believe local members would cause any significant disruption in patient services during the day of protest.

Mitchell said plans are in the works to the contrary.

"All regularly scheduled out-patient services will be withdrawn that day. Of course, we believe patient care is paramount, so we will have members in place who will respond to emergencies."

Mitchell said it's important for the public to know union members will not put patient care in jeopardy to take part in the province-wide action.

"We are very concerned about all of our patients," said Mitchell.

"We would never put their health at risk."

Union members include staff from a number of hospital departments, including the pharmacy, medical lab, X-ray, CT scan, ultrasound, cardio respiratory, recreational therapy, social work, physiotherapy, bio medical, EEG, sleep lab, health records, dietary and occupational therapy.

The union has been without a collective agreement for almost a year.

Union president Leah Casselman said Wednesday the planned day of protest is a last-ditch effort by the union to get a fair contract.

"What we want is one centrally negotiated contract for the whole province, not a series of piecemeal or band-aid solutions," said Casselman.

"We want an offer on central issues that we can take back to our members to ratify."

The workers are looking for a 23 per cent raise over two years -- about $50 million.

They earn between $37,000 and $50,000 a year, and say they need the steep increase to make up for years of wage freezes and to retain and attract staff.

When bargaining broke off last June, the hospitals were offering a wage increase of about nine per cent.

The employees say they are exhausted by the demands placed on them, including being called from home to work overtime at night and on their days off.

A union survey of members indicates 21 per cent knew of cases in the past six months where a patient's condition worsened because staff were unable to provide quality or timely results or care.

The survey also states 18 per cent of members said staff shortages and difficult working conditions were causing them to make "too many mistakes" at work.

"We did not want to go down this road," said Casselman.

"Our members are doing this because we care about the patients.

"We will not put patients at further risk."

The Barrie Examiner

Fri 31 Jan 2003

Page: A3

Section: Local News

Byline: Margaret Bruineman

Source: The Barrie Examiner; with files from Canadian Press

Aprotest by medical laboratory technologists at Barrie's Royal Victoria Hospital will affect those seeking elective treatment, warns a local union official. But hospital brass say otherwise.

A provincewide protest will strike RVH Feb. 13.

"We're not being recognized as a vital and important part of the health care umbrella," said Jacqueline Gibbons, an RVH technologist and union representative. "I take my job very seriously."

Gibbons said those seeking elective treatment may notice an impact.

The Ontario Public Services Employees Union representing diagnostic, therapeutic and rehabilitative workers at 40 Ontario hospitals have called for worker action. OPSEU calls it an "hospital emergency day of action."

About 70 medical laboratory technologists at RVH are represented by OPSEU.

The medical laboratory technologists do therapeutic and diagnostic testing to determine illness which leads to the treatment protocol. Glucose testing, white blood count tests for cancer patients, and the work leading to blood transfusions are among their tasks.

They have been without a contract for 10 months and are now asking for a 23 per cent raise over two years. That, they say, will put them on parity with nurses.

They argue they have the same training level as nurses and their jobs are on equal risk levels.

"We're a vital part of the health care team," said Gibbons.

Every Wednesday this past month, Gibbons and her colleagues have been wearing red T-shirts, signifying anger. They've also been donning stickers: "without us the doctors are only guessing."

RVH technologists, she added, make less money than counterparts working in other Simcoe County communities. She said as a result, it becomes difficult to attract workers, leaving the existing staff exhausted from working overtime.

Gibbons said there will be a reduction of services at RVH Feb. 13. She said emergency won't be affected by action, but elective treatment may well see a slowdown.

"Some people may not be there," she said, adding striking is illegal.

But RVH spokesman Paul Swain expects no interruptions in service.

"I would be very, very surprised if any staff member here would do anything that's detrimental to patient care," said Swain.

Swain said the hospital's relationship with unionized and non-unionized staff are "as good as you get." All professionals, he added, experience frustrations in their work.

RVH and 39 other Ontario hospitals give the Ontario Hospital Association the mandate to negotiate a contract with a total of 5,000 OPSEU members.

The workers are looking for a 23 per cent raise over two years -- about $50 million. They earn between $37,000 and $50,000 a year, and say they need the steep increase to make up for years of wage freezes and to retain and attract staff.

When bargaining broke off last June, the hospitals were offering a wage increase of about nine per cent. The union estimates the system is short by as many as 1,000 people as employees leave for the U.S. or better jobs in the private sector.

The North Bay Nugget

Fri 31 Jan 2003

Page: A3

Section: News

Byline: Maria Calabrese

Source: The Nugget

Pickets are planned by diagnostic, therapeutic and rehabilitative workers at North Bay General Hospital and West Nipissing General Hospital next Friday unless the province returns to the bargaining table.

The workers are among 5,000 Ontario Public Service Employees Union members threatening an illegal one-day strike at 40 hospitals to push the province to negotiate a new contract. Their collective agreement expired last March.

Talks between OPSEU and the Ontario Hospitals Association broke down in June.

Laboratory, X-ray, CT Scan and ultrasound technologists, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, dietitians, physiotherapists, psychologists, respiratory therapists, social workers and speech language pathologists are some of the professionals involved.

"When people think of the hospital, they think of doctors and nurses," said West Nipissing General Hospital lab technologist Linda McLeod, an OPSEU Local 662 vice-president.

The members want better wages to attract and retain employees, and to alleviate a chronic staff shortage that has hospital professionals working overtime and on their days off.

Up to 40 per cent of hospital professionals are expected to retire by the end of 2005, OPSEU Local 662 president Peggy Burke said at an information picket outside North Bay General Hospital last month.

Next week's Day of Action, McLeod said, will affect mental health workers at the Alliance Centre, a bilingual youth and adult outpatient counselling service serving West Nipissing.