• Whatever happens, stay strong.

• If your employer calls you in for any meeting, ask ahead of time what it is about. You should bring your steward to the meeting. You may even want to wear red.

• If you are disciplined, let your local president and staff rep know immediately. Make sure your staff representative gets a copy of any paper they hand you as well as any grievances you have filed. Any discipline can be grieved and OPSEU will fully represent you.

Here is suggested individual grievance language you can use in case of discipline:

A number of hospitals are writing letters to members’ colleges. Any affected member will receive a registered letter from the College - this could take several weeks. (But a flood of complaints will create a big workload and it may take them a while to decide how they want to proceed.)

All members who receive notification of a complaint from their college should immediately contact Mary Anne Kuntz, OPSEU Grievance Officer, (1-888-412-2297, ext. 226).

Fax (416-638-8085) to her any letter or documents you receive from your college. This is important because a written response must be made within 30 days after you receive the notice from the College.

Remember, OPSEU is fully supporting you, and some colleges have already indicated that they don’t want to be pulled into what is essentially a labour dispute.

The OHA has recommended a heavy-handed and counterproductive course of action to its member hospitals. While a few hospitals are taking that Draconian approach, other hospitals are going their own way and have already said they will not discipline their employees. Others are only looking at letters of reprimand or verbal warnings.

These more progressive employers obviously are interested in maintaining good labour relations and ensuring patient care now and in the future. After all, on the Day of Action we not only stood up for our own rights, but for our hospitals and our patients too!

These employers don’t want to further anger the staff and possibly inconvenience patients.

Hospitals are already short staffed. Unwarranted suspensions put an even greater burden on all staff and hurt patients. The Draconian approach will cause more turmoil - and who needs it? Not the patients, and not our members.

The OHA has recommended a heavy-handed and counterproductive course of action to its member hospitals. While a few hospitals are taking that Draconian approach, other hospitals are going their own way and have already said they will not discipline their employees. Others are only looking at letters of reprimand or verbal warnings.

These more progressive employers are obviously interested in maintaining good labour relations and ensuring patient care now and in the future. After all, on the Day of Action we not only stood up for our own rights, but for our hospitals and our patients too!

These employers don’t want to further anger the staff and possibly inconvenience patients.

Hospitals are already short staffed. Unwarranted suspensions put an even greater burden on all staff and hurt patients. The Draconian approach will cause more turmoil - and who needs it? Not the patients, and not our members.

Your bargaining team