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TORONTO - The ads may be moving, but the Ontario Public Service
Employees Union is maintaining its outdoor media campaign to shame the Centre
for Addiction and Mental Health into addressing workplace violence.
The bus shelters feature a photograph of a woman with a bruised
face. The caption reads: “No more excuses: The Centre for Addiction and Mental
Health must protect its staff from violence. It’s the law.”
The outdoor media is in response to ongoing violence at the
hospital, including 23 reported assaults this September alone.
Upon request by Astral Media, the bus shelter ads will be moving
from their present location across from CAMH’s main entrance to take up
positions about half a kilometer away east, west and north of the hospital.
“This campaign is a direct message to senior management at the
hospital,” says Warren (Smokey) Thomas, President of the 130,000-member union.
“The unions have been at the table with CAMH since 2004 to try and get a
violence prevention program implemented. Twenty-three assaults in September
indicate clearly that CAMH is failing in its obligations to staff and the
patients they serve.”
The Ministry of Labour has written orders to address workplace
violence at CAMH, but OPSEU members say little meaningful improvement has taken
place.
“Last week OPSEU and ONA held a press conference in front of
CAMH to urge the hospital to make a serious commitment to this issue,” said
Thomas. “Instead of action, we just read about more excuses from CAMH in the
media. Enough is enough.”
OPSEU wants to be clear that it is not trying to stigmatize
patients in the campaign, that workplace violence comes from a variety of
sources, including other staff members.
The union says there is much CAMH could be doing - including
staff training, personal alarms that work throughout the campus, thorough risk
assessments, better staffing and clear policy directions and communications.
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