BY FAX (416) 461-1670

Ms. Marian Walsh
CEO
Bridgepoint Health
14 St. Matthews Road
TORONTO ON M4M 2B5

Dear Marian:

In response to the concerns that you expressed in your October 28th letter, I want to reassure you that both the team and our members are acutely aware of our responsibility to patients and to our professions. We take that responsibility very seriously. In fact, it is that very responsibility that is making us strive in negotiations to restore our wages to an appropriate level and to resolve increasingly intolerable working conditions.

Patient care is already at risk as a result of severe shortages in many of our professions in hospitals all over Ontario. This is due in large part to the failure of the hospitals and the OHA to address these issues in previous rounds of bargaining. We have a responsibility on behalf of the patients to address these issues in this round before the crisis gets any worse.

You have stated repeatedly that you are aware of the recruitment and retention challenges that we all face but it is apparent that you are not committed to resolving them. If you were, a resolution could, and should, occur at the bargaining table.

In the meantime our members are frustrated that their wages and working conditions have not been addressed through the bargaining process and are seeking an opportunity to bring their issues to a wider audience. As members ourselves and as part of the bargaining team, we will continue to support them in whatever action they decide to take.

Thank you for sharing your concerns.

Sincerely,

Aimee Axler,
Chair, Central Negotiating Team

Cc: OPSEU Central Bargaining Team
Art Lane
Catherine Bowman
Moya Beall