Whatever it takes!
Hospital Emergency Day of Action

Backgrounder on HPD Day of Action

Q: What happened today?

A: OPSEU Hospital Professionals, in hospitals that bargain centrally, announced a date of February 13 for the first Hospital Emergency Day of Action at 40 hospitals across Ontario.

Our members will be engaging in a day of protest; unless the Ontario Hospital Association presents us in the meantime with an offer on central issues we can take back to the members for ratification, one that resolves the issue of short staffing.

This action affects the 5,000 members who voted 91 per cent last fall to do “Whatever it takes!” to get a great central contract.

Severe staff shortages in our hospital professions are hurting patient care. That’s the emergency. According to a recent survey commissioned by the Union, 78 per cent of staff think shortages are hurting patient care. Shortstaffing is already putting patients at risk, and it is getting worse.

We have waited almost a year for some action by the OHA and we can wait no longer, and neither can the patients.

Q: Who are the OPSEU hospital professionals?

A: They are the people who do the diagnostic, therapeutic and rehabilitative work in many Ontario hospitals.

Some of our members have a saying “Without us, your doctor is only guessing.” Others say: “We are the backbone of your recovery;” altogether there are 12,000 members, and 5,000 of them are affected directly by this set of central negotiations.

These include laboratory and x-ray technologists, MRI and CT scan technologists, physio and occupational therapists, respiratory therapists, speech pathologists, social workers, nuclear medicine technologists, health records technicians, blood collection technicians, pharmacists, ultrasound technologists, and about 90 other professions.

Q: How bad are the shortages.

A:

• The survey revealed problems with workload, stress, shortstaffing and other key issues
• People are leaving due to overwork and better working conditions elsewhere
• Poaching from the US and private clinics
• New grads going elsewhere
• Retirements: Many of our members will retire soon. The problem will get worse.

Q: How long have they been without a contract?

A: Our members have been without a central contract for about ten months (since March 31, 2002). They are angry and frustrated. Bargaining broke down in June. The OHA’s last offer was divisive and insulting, and did not address the problems. Even some of the hospitals have recognized this. Some have attempted to bargain side deals with our members, so they can poach employees from other hospitals. Members of the OHA bargaining team have been involved in this and we have charged them with bad faith bargaining.

Our members don’t want to see this situation get worse. That’s why we are taking action.

Q: Why this action at this time?

A: Our members have done it all to get their point across. They’ve

• Worn buttons
• Worn red
• Taken breaks
• Rallied
• Lobbied

After two months of actions, the OHA showed it still did not respect our members. They allowed mediation talks to fail after just three hours.

We told them that our efforts were only the beginning, and that our job actions would escalate until we get a contract. So this is part of the escalation of our activities.

The OHA has had a year to act, since the originally scheduled date for bargaining. Now they have two weeks left.

Q: Do hospital professionals have the right to strike?

A: Strikes in the hospital sector are illegal under the legislation that governs our bargaining. This is the case in Ontario – not in other provinces.

OPSEU does not distinguish between legal and illegal action, and the union fully supports the members and their team.

Q: Won’t your actions put patient care at risk?

A: No. We are putting the patients first. That’s what this is all about. Right now there is already risk because there are not enough people on the job. The work is not attractive enough at the current pay rates. So there are already delays because of staff shortages.

Q: The OHA made an offer in June. What’s wrong with the OHA wage offer?

A: It’s unbalanced and divisive.

It does not address the shortages problem in a meaningful way. It will not keep staff on the job or attract new staff to the professions.

For example, up until 10 years ago, Registered Technologists (RTs) were paid the same as nurses. We lost parity with nurses in 1991 (with the Devlin award), with the sole rationale given as being the nursing shortage. We had no increase in the years 1993 to 1999 and only modest increases since then. Now we need to catch up.

The OHA’s last offer still leaves a wage gap of 10.9 per cent between RTs and Nurses. (Nurses will make $33.75 (max rate) at the end of their contract. RTs would make $30.44 with the OHA offer).

Many hospitals have signaled that the OHA offer is inadequate, because they have attempted to go around the central bargaining process and bargain better side deals with us. (eg. Joseph Brant Memorial and University Health Network)

Q: What is OPSEU seeking? What would resolve this?

A: We want a centrally negotiated agreement that will ensure adequate staffing levels of health care professionals for patient care now and in the future. There is a very real crisis in our hospitals and it must be addressed now, or it will spiral out of control. We want to eliminate the wage gap between RTs and Nurses (23.3 per cent) and maintain relative positions for jobs above and below the RT rate. We are also seeking one standardized wage grid with jobs properly placed on the grid, to reflect their duties, responsibilities, qualifications required, and market rates. This would mean an approximate increase of 25 per cent across the board, to make up for the real wage losses since 1993.

A negotiated central contract, with improvements to wages and working conditions, is essential if we are going to entice young people to devote their lives to these professions.

Q: Will there be picket lines at every hospital?

A: Actions will depend on the circumstances. In some hospitals we only have a handful of members. There may be cross-picketing or other actions.

Q: How long will this action last?

A: This is a one-day action, but the campaign will last until this employer comes to its senses and gets back to the table with a serious offer that addresses the shortages and we have a central collective agreement.

Q: These are regulated professionals. What will the colleges do?

A: The colleges are interested in patient care, not labour disputes. We cannot speak on behalf of the colleges. But, some of our members have complained to the colleges that shortstaffing has impeded their ability to do their jobs.

Q: Why not just let the whole thing go to arbitration? Isn’t that what you have to do, by law, anyway?

A: The OHA refuses to agree to a central arbitration process. To do so, they insist we give up our legal right to compare at arbitration to other OPSEU units that aren’t part of central bargaining. Right now, we have an individual, hospital by-hospital arbitration process with the right to compare.

There are six lead hospitals scheduled to go to arbitration. The OHA won’t agree up front that the awards apply to the remaining 34 hospitals.

So this process could take forever with different terms and conditions for each different participating hospital. That could only fuel the shortage problem.