OPSEU wins right to represent
1,447 Ottawa hospital staff

TORONTO – The Ontario Public Service Employees Union has won a vote to represent 1,447 employees of the Ottawa Hospital.

The vote came about because of a merger of the Ottawa General, Riverside and Ottawa Civic Hospitals. Votes were counted Thursday.

The count was 606 for OPSEU, and 513 for the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

"This builds on the recent merger of our union with the Association of Allied Health Professionals: Ontario," said OPSEU President Leah Casselman. "Quite clearly, OPSEU is the dominant union in this province for medical paraprofessionals. We have a strong base and we are building on it."

The new bargaining unit covers all paramedical professional employees at the merged hospital. The group includes medical laboratory staff, x-ray technologists, dieticians, physiotherapists, pharmacy technicians and similar staff.

Mary Sue Smith, president of Local 422 which represented the paramedical staff of the former Ottawa General, said, "It means we can continue to do the work we started in representing professional staff, and we have one of the biggest units in the province."

"The first challenge will be to bring together our members from the three sites and build a sense of cohesion. I look forward to working with the new members of OPSEU and feel confident we can pull together to negotiate a new collective agreement."

- 30 -

For further information:

Katie FitzRandolph (OPSEU Communications) (416) 448-7440 or cell (416) 561-5651

Mary Sue Smith (613) 228-0338 or pager (613) 751-9973

 Press Release Index