NIAGARA: The Ontario Public Service Employees Union has taken legal action to continue to represent staff employed by the organizations now providing home nursing care in Niagara.
OPSEU, who represents staff at the Niagara Victorian Order of Nurses, has applied to the Ontario Labour Relations Board for “successor rights” to represent the employees of CarePartners and St. Elizabeth Health Care. The union says the transfer of services constitutes “a sale of business” to these two companies. If the application is
successful, the transferred staff will be entitled to work under the same terms and conditions they had while working for the VON.
“The new care providers put in a low bid because they thought they wouldn’t be bound by a collective agreement,” says OPSEU President Leah Casselman. “This is an attempt at union busting that won’t work. This transfer is a sale of business and we are taking action to keep our bargaining rights.”
OPSEU says the Niagara Community Care Access Centre contacted VON management offering to transition their nurses to the new provider. The nurses have been promised that they could take their existing patients with them to the new providers. Several employees of VON Niagara have accepted work with the new agencies and continue to provide the
same services to patients they served before.
The CCAC has also asked VON nurses to provide training and orientation to caregivers with the new service providers.
Yesterday, Health Minister George Smitherman announced a province-wide review of the competitive bidding process in community care. OPSEU continues to call for a moratorium on any new contracts resulting from this process.
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For more information, contact
Virgery Vanier - 905-227-3770
Rick Janson - 416-443-8888 ext 207
