Lesson for
premier in eHealth: Beware of sages
|
"Let's hope the premier and his
government learned a valuable lesson," said OPSEU president Warren
Thomas. "The more you hand over control of a vital public service
like health care to the private sector, the more costs are going to
skyrocket at the expense of the taxpayer."
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Toronto Star (ON)
Friday Oct. 9, 2009
JIM COYLE, COLUMNIST
Greybeards in the political
racket are always looking to the past for
possible prologue. And not without cause. It
is, after all, astonishing in human affairs,
and politics in particular, how often what's
old becomes new again.
One long-time Pink Palace
observer saw a cautionary tale for Premier
Dalton McGuinty in the eHealth Ontario
boondoggle that's cost taxpayers $1 billion
in an inept bid to establish electronic
health records in the province.
"Were you at Queen's Park in
'83-84 when the trust scandal turned dorky
David Peterson into a man who looked like a
premier?" the chap asked.
Well, yes, actually.
That was when Peterson, then
an unpromising greenhorn Opposition leader,
parlayed public furor over government
failure to regulate trust companies engaged
in financial manoeuvres worthy of Cirque de
Soleil into the first step on his road to
the premier's office.
Not so many weeks ago, newly
elected (and mildly dorky) PC Leader Tim
Hudak might have seemed as unlikely now as
Peterson was then to win government.
But it's not out of the
question that public disgust with the waste,
arrogance and incompetence at eHealth could
do for him what the trust company affair
helped do for Peterson.
That's just one potential
lesson for the premier.
A second – on the nature of
governance – was nicely served up yesterday
by the Ontario Public Service Employees
Union in a warning against a trend to which
McGuinty has become an adherent.
"Let's hope the premier and
his government learned a valuable lesson,"
said OPSEU president Warren Thomas. "The
more you hand over control of a vital public
service like health care to the private
sector, the more costs are going to
skyrocket at the expense of the taxpayer."
One of the things Auditor
General Jim McCarter highlighted was the
near total reliance on outside consultants
at eHealth. By 2008, the eHealth Program
Branch had almost 300 consultants compared
to fewer than 30 full-time employees.
"Relying too heavily on
consultants can be costly," he said.
"Consultants are generally a lot more
expensive than employees, and when they
finish a project, they leave, often taking
with them the expertise needed to maintain
and operate the system they helped develop."
A third – and perhaps the
most significant – lesson for the premier
might be found in to whom he has
increasingly chosen to grant his trust (and
considerable power).
McGuinty is something of a
one-man fan club for gurus and geniuses.
He's easily smitten by star power, or the
last book he read by someone professing to
have the Next Big Idea.
McGuinty fell in love, for
instance, with academics Richard Florida and
Roger Martin and their notions of a creative
economy. He's also enthralled by econ-omist
Don Drummond of the TD Bank and by that
institution's CEO, Ed Clark – who reportedly
helped sell McGuinty on a harmonized sales
tax.
There's Michael Fullan, the
high priest of benchmarks, in education.
Just as there was the now deposed Dr. Alan
Hudson and Sarah Kramer at eHealth.
Tellingly, McGuinty lamented
on Kramer's ouster that he once considered
her "indispensable." And woe is the leader
who starts deifying mere mortals in such
terms.
If Britons were able to oust
Winston Churchill right after World War II,
it's safe to say there's no such thing as an
indispensable human being.
If the premier were to draw
from the eHealth experience nothing more
than the idea that power and influence are
perhaps better placed in the hands of the
elected and accountable than with outside
sages and savants, his pain might not have
been totally in vain.
Union, parks at odds over hours;
Niagara Falls Review (ON)
Tue 19 May 2009
ALISON LANGLEY , REVIEW STAFF WRITER;
More than 100 Niagara Parks
Commission workers marched to Table Rock
Sunday against what they call unfair working
conditions.
About 1,000 seasonal
employees have had their weekly work reduced
to 37.5 hours from 44 or 40, according to
the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.
"They've cut hours of work,
so people cannot make a reasonable living,"
said Bill Rudd, president of OPSEU Local
217.
However, Parks chairman Jim
Williams said visitation is down due to the
downturn in the economy so the agency needs
to be "very prudent in our expenditures."
Rather than simply letting
staff go, Williams said, the Parks looked
for innovative ways to share what work is
available among its employees.
"We're asking staff to
reduce their work week by 2 1 /2 hours for
the sake of their colleagues' jobs. Anything
other than that, then we'd be running at a
deficit.
"We're trying to ensure that
through these tough recessionary times we
have a stable business that will grow and
prosper once we come out of this recession."
But Rudd blamed the decision
to cut hours on "heavy-handed management
that is making poor decisions."
"Cutting the hours of one
restaurant worker doesn't save you any
money, because you have to replace them with
someone else," he added.
The employees affected range
from maintenance workers who look after the
commission's 1,720 hectares of parkland to
the servers in the parks' restaurants.
"The condition of the park
has deteriorated and the service we give our
customers has deteriorated," he said. "We
need those customers. We offend them once,
they won't come back."
Niagara Falls MPP Kim
Craitor was at the rally and said recent
actions by the commission have caused him
some concern.
"There have been some
decisions that I've questioned," he said,
adding he has taken his concerns to Queen's
Park.
Welland MPP Peter Kormos
Sunday called for a public inquiry into the
commission's business practices.
"The Niagara Parks
Commission should be disbanded and those
commissioners sent home," he said.
Members of Worker United
Local 2347, which represents restaurant
servers, also participated in the rally.
© 2009 Osprey Media Group
Inc. All rights reserved.
Gaming hall guards predict security
problems if strike happens
Niagara Falls Review
Mon 11 May 2009
By Corey Larocque , Review Staff Writer
Problem gamblers could slip
more easily into Niagara's casinos if
security guards go on strike and replacement
workers are brought in, say unionized
security workers at Niagara Fallsview Casino
Resort and Casino Niagara.
But casino management said
it is prepared to continue "all facets" of
security if a strike or lockout occurs.
Casino security guards held
demonstrations at the two casinos, the
Montrose Road associates centre and at the
corner of Highway 420 and Stanley Avenue
Friday morning, to show support for the
Ontario Public Service Employees Union,
local 278, which represents security staff
at the casinos.
Friday's demonstrations
started at 7:30 a. m., in front of casino
properties, just before union officials
began conciliation talks with management at
Niagara Casinos at 10 a. m.
Security guards stood in
front of placards with messages such as, "OLG
hires scabs. Will you be safe?" and "Can OLG
scabs stop problem gamblers?"
They were apparent
references to a class action lawsuit
initiated by a Toronto-area man who alleges
he lost millions of dollars at OLG casinos
because security staff let him in, even
though he had signed up for the OLG's
self-exclusion program.
Niagara Casinos spokesman
Greg Medulun said that program and "all
facets" of casino security will continue in
the event of a strike or lockout.
"We have a contingency plan
in place that has been approved by the
(Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario)
that will allow us to continue all facets of
our security operation including the
self-exclusion program," Medulun said.
Friday's rally was intended
to show casino management it has to change
its offer, said Pat Honsberger, a staff
representative for OPSEU.
"On the table is still the
wages. We don't know if they're going to
move off the zero per cent increase," she
said.
The top pay for a security
guard is $19.85 an hour.
The union, which represents
about 280 security personnel, asked for
conciliation process with the Niagara
Casinos because they have been unable to
negotiate a new contract. Their old contract
expired at the end of March.
If conciliation fails,
either the union or management can ask for a
"no-board report" indicating talks have
broken down. Seventeen days after a no-board
report is filed, the union is in a legal
strike position and management is allowed to
lock out workers.
Conciliator
sought in Wellness Centre talks
Posted By Ronald Zajac, Staff
Writer
Brockville Recorder & Times OPSEU Local 441
Posted 3 days ago
Workers at the Child and Youth Wellness Centre
of Leeds and Grenville say management has walked
away from the collective bargaining table,
leaving them stunned.
But management at the local agency says it
hasn't walked away, but only concluded it's time
to bring in a conciliator.
The two sides are now awaiting a date for
conciliation to begin.
The wellness centre is the non-profit agency
that provides children's mental health services
in the two counties for the provincial
government. It has offices in Brockville,
Prescott, Kemptville, Elgin and Gananoque.
The 28 staff members belong to Local 441 of the
Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU).
Their collective agreement ran out Tuesday.
The staff includes social workers, senior
counsellors, community mental health counsellors
and child and youth workers, said the OPSEU
local's bargaining chairman, Mike Quinn.
The two main points of contention are the
process governing layoffs and employees'
increased workload, said Quinn.
On the matter of layoffs, he said, management
has tabled language that "is not acceptable."
Management is looking for the right to lay off
workers without regard to seniority, said Quinn,
adding OPSEU is trying to find "a more
reasonable, suitable way to address that
particular issue."
"It's a sad day when we try to figure out easier
ways to lay people off," added Quinn.
Meanwhile, the agency has seen front-line staff
laid off in recent years, increasing waiting
lists at a time of economic turmoil when more
families could benefit from the Child and Youth
Wellness Centre, he said. The result has also
been an increased workload for staff and OPSEU
is looking for recognition of this fact in the
new collective agreement.
"We're simply looking for a mechanism to ensure that workload remains
on the radar screen so that we're not burning
out or burying the front line staff," said
Quinn.
Talks had barely reached the subject of wages,
said Quinn, who insists money is not the issue
and the union recognizes times are hard and the
agency lacks sufficient provincial funding.
Annual increases of two to 2.5 per cent would
fall within the trend of similar deals
negotiated elsewhere, he said.
The previous agreement was for three years and
OPSEU was prepared to negotiate the duration of
the new one, said Quinn.
The bargaining chairman said the local was
stunned when, on Tuesday, the management side
walked away.
"We believed that negotiations were moving along
and that we were finding a good middle ground,"
said Quinn.
"We were a bit caught off-guard," he added.
"They (members) felt like doors got slammed
shut."
While saying he does not want to engage in a
"witch hunt" against management, Quinn added the
agency is "top-heavy," with seven executive
staff for 28 active front-line staffers.
And he noted that executive director Sally Wills
this year made the publicly disclosed list of
provincial public servants who earned more than
$100,000 in the previous year.
Wills was unwilling to discuss the talks in
detail with the media, but said management did
not walk away from the process.
"We do believe that we need a third party to
resolve the items that remain between us."
Wills said the discussion of layoffs at the
bargaining table is not an indication that
cutbacks are on the horizon, but added the
agency has received only two funding increases
from the province in the past 14 years and is
under constant budgetary constraints.
The wellness centre has an annual operating
budget of about $3 million, 85 per cent of which
goes to salaries, said Wills. It serves about
1,000 clients.
The union group's salary range currently tops
out at $60,585, said Wills. That number would be
$80,136, but a psychologist position remains
vacant.
Wills rejected the assertion the organization is
top-heavy, noting it has four program directors
for a total staff of 35, as well as a single
director of finance and human resources, an
administrative assistant and herself.
While she acknowledges she is on the $100,000
list, Wills believes her salary is on the low
side in the field.
Management remains willing to negotiate with
OPSEU and is hopeful a strike can be avoided,
said Wills.
"We just came of the opinion that there's very
little movement," she said.
Quinn is not sure whether having a conciliator
present will improve or hinder the bargaining
process.
"We remain open to trying to find a settlement,"
he said.
Faculty union cries foul: Fanshawe College
defends transferring money into a reserve fund
The London Free Press
Mon 23 Mar 2009
BY KELLY PEDRO
Fanshawe College's faculty union
is crying foul over the administration's quietly
transferring money into a reserve fund, even as
the college publicly sounds the alarm over a
multimillion-dollar shortfall and likely
cutbacks.
Last month, the college said it
was facing a $6.5-million budget shortfall --
its worst since the early 1990s.
But the head of the union
representing more than 650 full- and part-time
teachers, counsellors and librarians, said
audited statements show the college has
transferred money from its operating budget to a
reserve fund for buildings and facilities.
"As far as we can see, they
transferred $6 million from operating to capital
and they did that at a time when the province
was giving them money for projects," said Paddy
Musson, head of OPSEU Local 110.
"It's clear a transfer took
place,"she said, adding the information came
through a Freedom of Information request.
A senior college official
yesterday confirmed the college transferred
money into a capital reserve fund, but said that
figure was only $600,000 -- not $6 million --
and that it's necessary for emergency building
projects.
Bernice Hull, vice president of
administration at the college, said the capital
reserve fund has a total of $6 million in it and
the union is misreading the numbers.
"I think there's some
disconnects here in understanding those
financial statements and the financial records
and what those mean."
But Musson said any transfer
isn't a responsible move in these economic
times.
"We are faced with a 10%
enrolment increase for this coming year and we
are in the midst of an economic crisis."
"I'm not saying the college
illegally transferred the money, but what I am
saying is that was not the proper thing to do
and if that information had been publicly
declared all along, I think it wouldn't have
been easy to make this transfer," Musson said.
The college's board of governors
decided a few years ago to create a capital
reserve fund in case boilers or fire systems in
older buildings need to be replaced, said Hull.
The college has been adding to
that reserve fund over time and as of June 2008,
its balance was $6 million, she said.
"The fact we have talked about a
$6.5-million revenue shortfall in our operating
budget for 2009-10 has nothing to do with the
fact this reserve happens to be equal to $6
million. That reserve has been built up over a
number of years. It's not something that just
happened this year," Hull said.
Musson said the college's claim
of a $6.5-million shortfall is a "manufactured
crisis."
But Hull said increases to the
province's funding of operating grants have not
kept pace with increases in costs, salaries or
supplies.
Hull said she doesn't expect the
college to still face a $6.5 -million shortfall
when it starts the next fiscal year on April 1.
Staff has been directed to make cuts where they
can.
During the early 1990s, the
college also faced dire financial straits.
Full-time staff numbers were chopped almost in
half. But Hull wouldn't say if administrators
are considering layoffs to overcome the
shortfall.
"We're still working on the
details. But I will say whenever we're going
through this process, the college makes every
effort to minimize the impact on staff," Hull
said.
OPSEU plans public health meeting Feb. 24;
Union leader wants loss of services at local
health unit to be investigated
Owen Sound Sun Times
Tue 17 Feb 2009
BY MARIA CANTON, SUN TIMES STAFF;
True to his word, Warren
"Smokey" Thomas will preside over a town hall
meeting next week about the future of public
health here and its "degradation of services" in
an attempt to convince the province to launch an
investigation into management and administration
practices at the Grey Bruce Health Unit.
Thomas, who leads OPSEU,
Ontario's most powerful public service union,
called for a meeting earlier this year after
months of rocky relations between health unit
employees and the administration and health
board members.
"He seems to have a particular
interest in the operations of the Grey Bruce
Health Unit as it pertains to our members," Ted
Loughead, an OPSEU staff representative, said
Saturday.
"We're trying to convince the
minister of Health and Long Term Care to do
something that is fairly unusual, that is to
order an assessment of this health unit for its
management and administration practices."
OPSEU represents about 80
program assistants and professional/technical
staff at the health unit, including the support
staff who were laid off after last summer's
10-week strike.
Officials from the health unit
couldn't be reached over the weekend, but Dr.
Hazel Lynn, the organization's medical officer
of health, has previously said that she has no
problem with the province reviewing her
operation.
She has also said in the past
she would attend a public meeting if it was to
discuss public health, but not if it was to
"lambaste" her for things she "has no control
over."
The town hall meeting is
scheduled to take place Feb. 24 and union
organizers have invited health unit
administration to attend and "explain their
actions to the community they serve."
The first vice-president of the
Ontario Nurses Association, Vicki McKenna, is
slated to attend the meeting to represent the
health unit's registered nurses. MPP Bill
Murdoch has also been invited.
The meeting is a response to
ongoing questions and concerns from frustrated
staff members that started after the summer
strike when the health unit eliminated eight
clerical worker positions. Four full-time and
two part-time public health nurses have also
received layoff notices, also after ratifying a
new contract.
As well, the health unit's new
$17- million waterfront headquarters has long
been a contentious topic for both disgruntled
workers and some members of the public.
"We want to inform the public
and motivate them to encourage the minister to
look into this matter . . . and appoint an
assessor and take a look at what's happening in
this health unit," said Loughead.
"There's lots of community
interest in this issue and we expect to there to
be a good turn out."
The meeting will take place
Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 7 p. m. at the Days Inn
hotel in Owen Sound.
© 2009 Osprey Media Group
Inc. All rights reserved.
CMHA workers picket over contract offer
