Skip to main content

Home/ CUPE Health Care/ Group items tagged union

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
Govind Rao

Why We Need to Transform Teacher Unions Now | Alternet - 1 views

www.alternet.org/...d-transform-teacher-unions-now

from heather us union activist

shared by Govind Rao on 06 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • This work reminds me of the words of activist/musician Bernice Johnson Reagon, of Sweet Honey in the Rock: “If you are in a coalition and you are comfortable, that coalition is not broad enough.”
  • February 6, 2015
  • Immediately following Act 10, Walker and the Republican-dominated state legislature made the largest cuts to public education of any state in the nation and gerrymandered state legislative districts to privilege conservative, white-populated areas of the state.
  • ...62 more annotations...
  • By Bob Peterson / Rethinking Schools
  • long history of being staff-dominated.
  • And it has. In New Orleans, following Katrina, unionized teachers were fired and the entire system charterized.
  • But it recognizes that our future depends on redefining unionism from a narrow trade union model, focused almost exclusively on protecting union members, to a broader vision that sees the future of unionized workers tied directly to the interests of the entire working class and the communities, particularly communities of color, in which we live and work.
  • It requires confronting racist attitudes and past practices that have marginalized people of color both inside and outside unions.
  • Having decimated labor law and defunded public education, Walker proceeded to expand statewide the private school voucher program that has wreaked havoc on Milwaukee, and enacted one of the nation’s most generous income tax deductions for private school tuition.
  • For nearly a decade we pushed for a full-time release president, a proposal resisted by most professional staff.
  • “Social Justice Unionism: A Working Draft”
  • Social justice unionism is an organizing model that calls for a radical boost in internal union democracy and increased member participation.
  • business model that is so dependent on staff providing services
  • building union power at the school level in alliance with parents, community groups, and other social movements.
  • The importance of parent/community alliances was downplayed
  • instead of helping members organize to solve their own problems.
  • Our challenge in Milwaukee was to transform a staff-dominated, business/service-style teachers’ union into something quite different.
  • only saw the union newsletter after the staff had sent it to the printer.
  • Key elements of our local’s “reimagine” campaign and our subsequent work include:
  • Building strong ties and coalitions with parent, community, and civic organizations,
  • broader issues
  • action.
  • earliest victories was securing an extra $5/hour (after the first hour) for educational assistants when they “cover” a teacher’s classroom.
  • lobby
  • enlist parents
  • we amended the constitution
  • consistently promoting culturally responsive, social justice teaching.
  • encourage members to lead our work.
  • release two teachers to be organizers
  • appear en masse at school board meetings
  • to shift certain powers from the staff to the elected leadership
  • new teacher orientation and mentoring are available and of high quality.
  • The strength of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) 2012 strike,
  • rested in large part on their members’ connections to parent and community groups
  • Karen Lewis
  • Portland, Oregon, and St. Paul, Minnesota
  • In Milwaukee, our main coalition work has been building Schools and Communities United,
  • We wanted to move past reacting, being on the defensive, and appearing to be only against things.
  • Key to the coalition’s renewal was the development of a 32-page booklet, Fulfill the Promise: The Schools and Communities Our Children Deserve.
  • concerns of the broader community beyond the schoolhouse door
  • English and Spanish
  • Currently the coalition’s three committees focus on fighting school privatization, promoting community schools, and supporting progressive legislation.
  • schools as hubs for social and health support,
  • This work reminds me of the words of activist/musician Bernice Johnson Reagon, of Sweet Honey in the Rock: “If you are in a coalition and you are comfortable, that coalition is not broad enough.”
  • Our new professional staff is committed to a broader vision of unionism with an emphasis on organizing.
  • We need to become the “go-to” organizations in our communities on issues ranging from teacher development to anti-racist education to quality assessments.
  • nonprofit organization, the Milwaukee Center for Teaching, Learning, and Public Education
  • We provide professional development and services to our members
  • reclaim our classrooms and our profession.
  • We partner with the MPS administration through labor/management committees
  • multiple committee meetings, inservice trainings, book circles (for college credit), and individual help sessions on professional development plans or licensure issues.
  • we offered workshops that drew 150 teachers at a time.
  • More teachers were convinced to join our union, too, because our teaching and learning services are only open to members.
  • mandate 45 minutes of uninterrupted play in 4- and 5-year-old kindergarten classes
  • We also won a staggered start
  • convincing the school board to systematically expand bilingual education programs throughout the district.
  • school-based canvassing around issues and pro-education candidates, and organizing to remove ineffective principals.
  • With the plethora of federal and state mandates and the datatization of our culture,
  • It’s clear to me that what is necessary is a national movement led by activists at the local, state, and national levels within the AFT and NEA—in alliance with parents, students, and community groups—to take back our classrooms and our profession.
  • social justice content in our curriculum
  • waiting to use any perceived or real weakness in public schools as an excuse to accelerate their school privatization schemes,
  • On the other hand, speaking out can play into the hands of the privatizers as they seek to expand privately run charters
  • including participation on labor/management committees, lobbying school board members, and balancing mass mobilizations with the threat of mass mobilizations.
  • In the end, we recognize a key element in fighting privatization is to improve our public schools.
  • In Los Angeles, an activist caucus, Union Power, won leadership of the United Teachers Los Angeles, the second largest teacher local in the country.
Govind Rao

Grits should get a grip as health merger guru takes too many liberties - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|245142|hlch|20150124|213094112

from heather NS restructuring court legislation union

shared by Govind Rao on 27 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • The Chronicle-Herald Sat Jan 24 2015
  • "... the nursing bargaining unit is composed of all unionized employees who occupy positions that must be occupied by a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse." Dorsey explains his view of the "majoritarian principle," arguing that principles of democracy require a union to be supported by a majority of members to be certified. Of course, that is not the way our democracy works. It has been three decades since any party won more than 50 per cent of the vote in a Nova Scotian or Canadian election. And when one party has a plurality, but not a majority, of seats, it still gets to form the government. As a practical matter, only the clerical group (NSGEU) has a majority from one union. No matter. Dorsey tells us that "it cannot be the legislative intent in this restructuring for the first time in Canadian history to impose certification of three unions as exclusive bargaining agents for bargaining units of employees without majority employee support."
  • And "... no employer wants to bargain with a union ... that does not represent a majority of its employees." Any plain reading of the act tells us that was exactly the intent of the employer, because for three of the groups, there is no majority union. Both the IWK and the regional health authorities (RHAs) had plenty of opportunity to object. They did not. The NSNU has a majority of nurses (RNs and LPNs) at the IWK and in total. Dorsey estimates that the NSNU has 48.9 per cent of the nurses in the amalgamated authority. He appears to have searched everywhere for a pebble to stumble on and finds it there. It is crystal clear that the straightforward path to follow the act is by certifying the NSNU for those employees. Premier Stephen McNeil has eliminated this unnecessary impasse by combining the nursing units for the provincial health authority and IWK Health Centre into a single or common employer unit for bargaining purposes, without compromising the IWK's independence. Good.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Needless to say Dorsey, likewise, cannot abide allowing Unifor and CUPE, the two other unions, to represent the health-care and support groups since there is nothing close to a majority share of representation in either. Instead, he argues that each individual union local is a union for this purpose and invites them and the relevant NSGEU locals to fashion amalgamations. They seem to be amalgamations in name only: "(it) can also take the form of an amalgamation in which each of the former unions continues to exist, perhaps only with a change in name. There can be minor changes with the unions (by which he means the relevant union locals) continuing to operate with their pre-amalgamation structures and organization essentially unchanged." In other words it looks like a bargaining association, which the government has rejected, dressed up in different clothes. Worse, it preserves obsolete boundaries for no reason that benefits members.
  • Dorsey argues that the amalgamations meet the province's requirement for single bargaining agents, and that what he is proposing is "not a council of trade unions, not a bargaining association and not a joint structure of autonomous unions." Union leaders are getting a different message. They believe that they can keep their members after amalgamation. How can such an arrangement serve the interests of the new union's members? Since there is to be only one contract, why is there a continuing need for different locals? He invites the unions to create amalgamations for the health-care and support groups, but he does not exclude it for the others. The members of these new creations will not have voted for them - so much for majoritarian principles.
  • It's time for government to get a grip. It was not expecting this outcome. The process has already dragged on longer than it was supposed to, and no conclusions on representation have been reached. The unions may not reach an amalgamation agreement, or may present one that government views as unsatisfactory, but which Dorsey chooses to accept. The government must define clear timelines for a complete decision on representation to be reached, and specify the conditions it expects, including the degree of autonomy, in any new amalgamations that are proposed as candidates. The government has patiently and effectively moved this file along since the day it was elected. It should not let the project become derailed at this late stage.
Govind Rao

Health union hearings near climax; Arbitrator meeting this week to decide on structure ... - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/...213754621

from heather NS restructuring court legislation

shared by Govind Rao on 03 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • The Chronicle-Herald Tue Feb 3 2015
  • Hearings to determine who will represent whom in Nova Scotia's health-care system entered the final stretch Monday. Arbitrator Jim Dorsey was at an airport hotel outside Halifax along with representatives for the four health-care unions and the employer for final submissions on representation under the Liberal government's Health Authorities Act. The bill reduces the number of bargaining units to four from 50 and this will likely be the final week for unions to make their case.
  • Such a scenario would see unions keep their respective members but use an amalgamated bargaining team when it comes time to negotiate contracts. Dorsey ruled that that option makes sense for health-care and support, where no union has a clear majority. Although the government appears to be on side with that plan, for nursing and clerical, the government's preference is for the majority union to represent the bargaining unit. NSGEU has the clear majority for clerical. Last week, the government changed a regulation in the act that, in effect, gives the Nova Scotia Nurses' Union the majority of nurses.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Monday's session focused on the support bargaining unit. Tuesday will focus on the clerical bargaining unit. The health-care unit is scheduled for Wednesday, with nursing, the most contentious of the units, to be addressed Thursday. Joan Jessome, president of the Nova Scotia Government &General Employees Union, said it is no one's preference to take members from other unions. It is her belief that Dorsey's decision from last month "allows the unions to sit down together and put in place an amalgamated union for each of the four bargaining units."
  • Unions will make submissions on the appropriateness of the regulatory change Tuesday, with a representative for the attorney general in attendance. Nurses' Union president Janet Hazelton said her union would support a bargaining association, but it doesn't seem to be an option for nursing. The regulation change, which considers IWK Health Centre nurses and nurses from the other health authorities as having one employer for the purpose of bargaining, makes sense, said Hazelton.
  • "We've always treated them as one bargaining unit. We have one collective agreement that applies to both groups. We hold a vote (and) they're included in the vote. They sit on the bargaining committee. So we have treated the IWK and the rest of our employers as one since 1990." Unifor Atlantic regional director Lana Payne, whose union, along with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, has remained unwavering in its support for bargaining associations, said the process has been a roller-coaster ride for everyone. Payne expects a challenging week, but she remains optimistic that amalgamated units will work. "Our commitment is there, and I'm hopeful that we can pull it through." CUPE president Danny Cavanagh said the goal is to come out of the week representing as many workers as they did at the start, "if not more."
Govind Rao

Nova Scotia's public sector unions vow fight over health legislation - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|243387|cbpo|20140927|204931111

from heather NS novascotia union restructuring

shared by Govind Rao on 29 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • Cape Breton Post Sat Sep 27 2014
  • Leaders of Nova Scotia's public sector unions vowed Friday to fight a bill that would change the collective bargaining process for health-care workers, saying such legislation would be an attack on their labour rights. Rick Clarke, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour, said the unions were blindsided by the Liberal government after it unilaterally decided to make the changes following a summer of negotiation. "My mother had brought me up never to call anybody a liar, but I have never been misled by a group of people as severely as we have been by these folks," said Clarke on the steps of the legislature. He was cheered by about 100 supporters who at one point during proceedings broke into a chant of, "My vote, my union, my choice."
  • Joan Jessome, whose Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union represents most of the health care workers that would be affected by the legislation, said there was no way the unions would bargain away the rights of their membership. "NSGEU has 14,000 health care workers impacted by these decisions," said Jessome. "There is no way in good conscience could I sit down and negotiate away benefits for members and they have no say." The unions said they want to form a bargaining association to avoid splintering their members in contract negotiations. But Premier Stephen McNeil said that proposal still leaves far too many bargaining units to deal with and the collective bargaining process needs to be streamlined so that the government isn't perpetually negotiating contracts. "What they brought to us in my view was the status quo," McNeil said. He also said the unions should wait to see the legislation when it is introduced Monday before arriving at conclusions. "I'm not sure how they feel they've been misled," he said. "The piece of legislation will reflect what was talked about with them."
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Health Minister Leo Glavine said Thursday that the government decided to impose a framework that will identify which unions will represent nurses, technologists, administrative and support workers after negotiations with the unions broke down over the summer. On Friday he appeared to back away from that statement, albeit slightly. "The legislation doesn't specifically say what union people will be in," said Glavine. "It outlines a process that will enable to get to a streamline position." Some of the workers who attended the rally were clear that they want to stay with the unions that represent them now. Lynn Stanton, a Halifax nurse who works at the Victoria General Hospital's intensive care unit, called the government's move "shoddy."
  • "In our union we fought long and hard for the benefits that we have gotten," she said. "I've put in over 28 years there and I want to stay where I've been." The government has repeatedly butted heads with labour since sweeping to power nearly a year ago. Earlier this month it was named in a court challenge that aims to overturn essential services legislation that ended a strike by 2,400 nurses in Halifax in April. Following the rally Friday, Clarke said the unions will discuss their options over the coming days, including the possibility of further legal action.
Govind Rao

Province in talks with health-care contractor; union raises concerns - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|245142|nbml|20150923|229859350

from heather NB hospital privatization cupe

shared by Govind Rao on 23 Sep 15 - No Cached
  • Miramichi Leader Wed Sep 23 2015
  • The province expects to have completed talks with a private contractor for the management of health-care cleaning and food services before the end of the year. Bruce McFarlane, Health Minister Victor Boudreau's director of communications, said that the province is "still in current discussions with the preferred proponent and we hope to have completed the process sometime this fall." McFarlane sent The Daily Gleaner an email statement Friday afternoon after the New Brunswick Council of Hospital Unions CUPE local 1252 released a 20-page document critical of the government's plan to privatize housekeeping, food services and porter services at hospitals. "We want to clarify that we are only outsourcing the management of the services," said McFarlane, who added that the ministry had not yet received the document.
  • CUPE staff will remain in their union and will continue to be employees of the Province of New Brunswick." Norma Robinson, president of CUPE Local 1252, said she is "very concerned that the Liberal government is negotiating with a private firm to take over the management of food and cleaning services in the province's hospitals." Robinson said she's worried the move could lead to further privatization. In an interview with Brunswick News in April, Boudreau said the government wants to give the private sector a greater role in the province's health-care system.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Boudreau has said the move will save the province millions of dollars through efficiencies brought in by a private company. However, the union's document paints a poor picture of privatization of services in health-care facilities in other jurisdictions. "We believe it is important for New Brunswickers to understand the impact of such a move, especially when it comes to the cleanliness of a building which the public relies on everyday," Robinson said. Last year, the Horizon Health Network started a regular audit of the cleanliness of hospitals being serviced by unionized public sector workers. Auditor General Kim MacPherson reported that health-care workers weren't cleaning their hands as required and that the standards to do so weren't even the same within the two regional health authorities.
  • Robinson said Friday that policies have been established and changes made that are addressing cleanliness concerns. "And they have improved on their targets of cleaning in the hospital sector," she said. The union claims its research into the three companies they believe are being considered to take over those services - Sodexo, Aramark and Compass - shows a poor track record. The union said it's also concerned about the quality of food declining. The union wants to keep the management of hospital environmental services in-house. It also wants fair wages and benefits for cleaning and food services staff to ensure against high turnover and gaps in training. The union also stated lay-offs and staff reductions would be a poor way to balance the budget.
  • "The cost associated with treating hospital-acquired infections, managing public relations fiascoes and defending lawsuits would defeat any possible savings while destroying the public trust." The Province of New Brunswick expects to have completed talks with a private contractor for the management of health-care cleaning and food services before the end of the year.
  • Bruce McFarlane, Health Minister Victor Boudreau's director of communications, said Friday that the province is "still in current discussions with the preferred proponent and we hope to have completed the process sometime this fall." McFarlane sent The Daily Gleaner an email statement Friday afternoon after the New Brunswick Council of Hospital Unions CUPE local 1252 released a 20-page document critical of the government's plan to privatize housekeeping, food services and porter services at hospitals. "We want to clarify that we are only outsourcing the management of the services," said McFarlane, who added that the ministry had not yet received the document.
  • "CUPE staff will remain in their union and will continue to be employees of the Province of New Brunswick." Norma Robinson, president of CUPE Local 1252, said she is "very concerned that the Liberal government is negotiating with a private firm to take over the management of food and cleaning services in the province's hospitals." Robinson said she's worried the move could lead to further privatization. In an interview with Brunswick News in April, Boudreau said the government wants to give the private sector a greater role in the province's health-care system.
  • Boudreau has said the move will save the province millions of dollars through efficiencies brought in by a private company. However, the union's document paints a poor picture of privatization of services in health-care facilities in other jurisdictions. "We believe it is important for New Brunswickers to understand the impact of such a move, especially when it comes to the cleanliness of a building which the public relies on everyday," Robinson said. Last year, the Horizon Health Network started a regular audit of the cleanliness of hospitals being serviced by unionized public sector workers. Auditor General Kim MacPherson reported that health-care workers weren't cleaning their hands as required and that the standards to do so weren't even the same within the two regional health authorities.
  • Robinson said Friday that policies have been established and changes made that are addressing cleanliness concerns. "And they have improved on their targets of cleaning in the hospital sector," she said. The union claims its research into the three companies they believe are being considered to take over those services - Sodexo, Aramark and Compass - shows a poor track record. The union said it's also concerned about the quality of food declining. The union wants to keep the management of hospital environmental services in-house. Calls made to Sodexo, Aramark and Compass were not returned by press time.
Govind Rao

Health arbitration set to start; Hearings to decide which unions will represent 4 group... - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/...209992409

from heather NS legislation union

shared by Govind Rao on 09 Dec 14 - No Cached
  • The Chronicle-Herald Tue Dec 9 2014 Page: A5
  • Arbitration hearings to determine which health-care unions represent four segments of workers begin Tuesday and will include one more attempt by union reps to argue for a different model. The hearings follow unsuccessful mediation between the province and four unions regarding representation in the new provincial health board. Bill 1, which merges nine district health authorities on April 1, also calls for there to be only four bargaining units, with each union representing only one of those units. Unifor, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Nova Scotia Nurses' Union and the Nova Scotia Government &General Employees Union have argued that the move strips workers of their rights to determine representation. Under the legislation passed in October, some unions stand to gain thousands of new members while others could lose thousands of members. The hearings, scheduled to run until Sunday at a hotel near the Halifax airport, are expected to open with arguments on a charter rights challenge by CUPE. Depending on how that plays out, the focus would then shift to nursing. The other three newly created bargaining units are health care, clerical and service staff.
  • Wayne Thomas, CUPE's acute-care co-ordinator, said they will basically argue that arbitrator James Dorsey should be able to consider a bargaining association model, which would see the unions keep their respective members but bargain along the lines of the four units. "We're hoping that the door is open a crack to consider another alternative." Thomas said CUPE was buoyed by some of the comments in Dorsey's report following the mediation process. In the report, Dorsey noted he is essentially acting in place of the labour board and isn't just an administrator to rubber stamp the process. "The mediator-arbitrator is not simply an usher showing everyone preassigned seating," Thomas said. "The mediator-arbitrator's role is not simply to ensure the employers or the government get a desired outcome, no matter how much it might be preordained." NSGEU president Joan Jessome said her union continues to believe the most fair option is for all union members to vote on representation, although she said she would support a bargaining association model. If the charter challenges are unsuccessful and Dorsey does slot unions, Jessome said the NSGEU's position is not to push to represent any one group. Dorsey is expected to deliver his decision by Jan. 1.
Govind Rao

Not a slam dunk for government | Halifax Media Co-op - 0 views

halifax.mediacoop.ca/...32893

from heather NS novascotia restructuring court legislation union

shared by Govind Rao on 27 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • KJIPUKTUK), HALIFAX - "We are happy with this decision. It creates four bargaining units and ensures that all nurses can be represented by one union," said Health and Wellness Minister Leo Glavine in a press release issued short
  • The idea of four bargaining units was never disputed, labour leaders say, so that's hardly a victory for the government.
  • And as far as the one union for nurses is concerned, Dorsey states that he doubts whether any one health-care union has the numbers to claim a majority.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • While the government has the right to wind up district health authorities and dismiss executives and managers in restructuring, it cannot reach across the table and assign new representational rights and responsibilities for independent trade unions or tell employees who will be their bargaining agent,” Dorsey writes.
  • “This isn't the slam dunk that the Liberal government wanted,” Danny Cavanagh, regional vice-president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) tells the Halifax Media Co-op. That collaborative approach to bargaining is really not that different from the bargaining associations all four affected unions were proposing earlier, Cavanagh argues. At that time the government rejected that idea. Now Dorsey ruled that response was wrong.
  • Dorsey suggests that in the next arbitration phase, scheduled for early February, the unions explore the idea of amalgamated successor unions for at least some if not all of the four proposed bargaining units. An amalgamated successor union is a legal entity, with its own bylaws, leadership, and all the legal trimmings, made up of the relevant existing health care unions. Those unions keep their own leadership, members, etc.
  • Dorsey thinks that there is nothing in Bill 1 that forbids the collaborative bargaining approach. “We could have been off to the races without going through the arbitration process,” Cavannagh says. Now there is another opportunity for the unions to come up with a collective bargaining structure. More formal than a bargaining association, the so-called amalgamated successor union, will need to encompass all the legal attributes of a bargaining agent.
  • The next phase of the arbitration hearings starts on February 2nd. It's not yet known whether the meetings will be open to the public.
Govind Rao

What does the Bill 1 decision mean for Nova Scotia health-care unions? | rabble.ca - 0 views

rabble.ca/...nova-scotia-health-care-unions

from heather NS novascotia restructuring court legislation

shared by Govind Rao on 27 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • By Ella Bedard | January 22, 2015
  • Monday, arbitrator James Dorsey released his decision on Bill 1, the Nova Scotia Bill which will change the labour landscape for Nova Scotia health-care workers.
  • Though Nova Scotia's Health Minister Leo Glavine rejected the bargaining association model as an unworkable solution, the unions say that Dorsey has now re-opened the possibility of multi-union representation.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • The explicit meaning of the 196-page decision wasn't immediately clear. However, in the hours after the announcement, all four health-care unions affected expressed their satisfaction with the ruling, which they say resembles the bargaining association model favoured by labour.
  • Yet he also acknowledges that the government does not have the authority to rearrange union membership to the extent that Bill 1 proposes, writing: "While the government has the right to wind up district health authorities and dismiss executives and managers in restructuring, it cannot reach across the table and assign new representational rights and responsibilities for independent trade unions or tell employees who will be their bargaining agent."
  • Dorsey's ruling states that in order for one union to be the sole representative for a bargaining unit, it has to have what's being called a "double majority" -- that is, a majority in both the regional health authorities and IWK Health Centre, which is a separate entity jointly administered by the three Maritime provinces.
  • The NSGEU plans to use the upcoming arbitration period to negotiate with CUPE to form an amalgamated health care unit for the clerical workers, said Jessome, who believes that that option is still available for the nurses too.
  • In an interview broadcast on Halifax-based radio station News 95.7, President of the Nova Scotia Nurses Union (NSNU) Janet Hazelton said that she is also open to a multi-union approach.
Govind Rao

CUPE slams designated bargaining; Union argues arbitrator has other options in deciding... - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|245142|hlch|20141210|210108448

from heather cupe NS bargaining restructuring court

shared by Govind Rao on 11 Dec 14 - No Cached
  • The Chronicle-Herald Wed Dec 10 2014
  • The first day of arbitration hearings between Nova Scotia's health-care unions and the provincial government opened with a final attempt by CUPE to prevent unions from being assigned to designated bargaining units. Arguing based on a charter of rights protest against Bill 1, the legislation that merges nine health authorities, CUPE lawyer Susan Coen told arbitrator Jim Dorsey that he has the power to consider other options. While Bill 1 calls for each of the four unions to be assigned to one of four new bargaining units, the Canadian Union of Public Employees continues to advocate for a bargaining association model that would allow unions to keep their respective members but come together to bargain on behalf of each of the new units that would impact their members.
  • Although a lawyer for the health districts portrayed this as unions calling for the status quo, Coen said the four unions (CUPE, Unifor, the Nova Scotia Nurses' Union and the Nova Scotia Government &General Employees Union) reached consensus on the association model through a lot of effort. "It is far, far more than just unions agreeing to work together," Coen said. The province ruled out the proposal last summer, saying it did not go far enough to streamline bargaining. Mediation failed last month, triggering the arbitration. Bill 1's approach to labour causes unnecessary upheaval, she said. The other issue touched on during Tuesday's session was the legislation's call to put all registered nurses and licenced practical nurses in one bargaining unit. Lawyers for CUPE and the NSGEU, who stand to lose thousands of members under that plan, noted there are concerns, given the salary disparity between the two jobs and fears some registered nurses may have about their roles being eroded by licenced practical nurses.
Govind Rao

MEDIA RELEASE: Unions Seek Clarity on Minister's Recent Comments | CUPE Nova Scotia - 0 views

novascotia.cupe.ca/...ia-release-unions-seek-clarity

from heather cupe NS novascotia legislation restructuring

shared by Govind Rao on 01 Oct 14 - No Cached
  • MEDIA RELEASE: Unions Seek Clarity on Minister’s Recent Comments Leaders of the four health care unions affected by Bill 1 have written to the Minister of Health & Wellness this morning, requesting urgent clarification on his recent comments that government would accept a model of collective bargaining that would see the lead union in each of the four proposed bargaining units conduct bargaining on behalf of all employees in that sector.  “Minister Glavine’s comments seem to suggest that government would allow each of the four Unions to continue to represent their current membership,” says Rick Clarke, President of the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour.  “These public comments appear to contradict what is contemplated in Bill 1.”  The Union leadership, therefore, has requested an urgent meeting with the Minister today to discuss how to reconcile his public comments with the legislation and to explore in detail the exact nature of his proposal. All of the union leaders are currently at the legislature and available to meet.
Govind Rao

Report shows the value of unions | Unifor National - 0 views

www.unifor.org/...report-shows-value-unions

from heather union

shared by Govind Rao on 05 May 14 - No Cached
  • May 1 -
  • Unions built the middle class in the last century and, with the right conditions, can do so again this century, a new report by Unifor economist Jordan Brennan has found. “What we call the ‘middle class’ today had little precedent in human history until unions helped create it,” Brennan writes in The Creation of a Shared Prosperity in Canada: Unions, Corporations and Countervailing Power, published recently by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. “The erosion of unions since the late 1970s has meant wage stagnation, a shrinking national wage bill and heightened in­come inequality,” Brennan writes. “Union renewal could play a crucial role in restoring middle class security and mass prosperity.” In the report, Brennan correlates the rise in average wages from 1910 to the mid-1970s, when unionization reached its peak, and the stagnation of real wages since as union membership declined.
Govind Rao

Nova Scotia reaches agreement with health-care unions - Nova Scotia - CBC News - 0 views

www.cbc.ca/...h-health-care-unions-1.2994245

from heather NS restructuring union

shared by Govind Rao on 16 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • Health unions are pleased with the outcome
  • Mar 13, 2015
  • The province and the four unions representing all employees of the district health authorities and the IWK Health Centre have reached a deal regarding union representation under Nova Scotia's contentious Bill 1. The Nova Scotia Nurses' Union, Unifor, the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union and the Canadian Union of Public Employees will continue representing their members. It's a decision union leaders are happy with. 
Govind Rao

CUPE calls cuts risky ; Union wants PRH's decision to cut beds and contract out service... - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|245142|pedb|20151022|231946235

from heather cupe hospital Ontario cuts

shared by Govind Rao on 22 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • The Pembroke Observer Thu Oct 22 2015 Page: A1
  • Union leaders are demanding the Pembroke Regional Hospital investigate what they are calling the risky practice of sending surgical instruments to Mississauga for sterilization. During a press conference in Pembroke Wednesday, Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, repeated their intentions to meet with provincial health minister Eric Hoskins over cutbacks to Pembroke Regional as it attempts to also secure some face time with the hospital's board of directors, a request they have ignored since last June.
  • "This is a pretty tough board to meet," said Hurley. "Honestly I don't think it would be this hard to meet the premier of Ontario." CUPE 1502 (Canadian Union of Public Employees), which represents Registered Practical Nurses, technical staff including x-rays and diagnostics and support staff at the hospital, is seeking to reverse the cutting of five medical beds and two paediatric beds and the contracting out of services once provided by the Central Service and Reprocessing (CSR) department. CSR provides patient-care areas with clean and sterile supplies and includes all reusable patient care equipment such as bowls and basins, anaesthetic supplies and surgical instrument sets. While the 10 people who worked there didn't lose their employment, they were reassigned to housekeeping, and the job they once did will now be handled by a Toronto-based company.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • "There is a widespread feeling in the community that we already don't have enough beds and that the closure of these beds and these services is something they are deeply concerned about," said Hurley. The union also revealed that the introduction of voice recognition software will mean the layoffs of seven stenographers at the Pembroke Regional Hospital. They noted that none of the county's four other hospitals sends out their surgical instruments for sterilization. sean.chase@sunmedia.ca
  • "We are a regional hospital with new state-of-the-art operating rooms and we are sending our surgical trays to Mississauga for sterilization," said CUPE Local 1502 vice-president Simone Burger. "This is not acceptable to us." Ontario has frozen hospital funding for four years. Estimates cited by the Auditor General calculate that hospitals need a 5.8 per cent increase annually to meet their basic costs, however, the union contends the contracting out of an essential service is not the answer. In soliciting public support, the union has received back 6,000 cards signed by concerned citizens.
  • "Skilled workers are no longer going to be utilized to their full ability," said CUPE 1502 president Cynthia Schulz. The union restated that under this arrangement there are no guarantees surgical instruments will be able to be delivered to Pembroke in time if the road is closed due to bad weather or accidents, and there is a matter of quality control on the work. The union charged that at least one hospital in Toronto's west end is looking to pull out of its sterilization contract after instruments came back with blood and bone marrow stuck on them.
  • CUPE 1502 vice-president Simone Burger (right) makes a point during a press conference Wednesday that focused on cuts at the Pembroke Regional Hospital. Looking on is Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, and CUPE 1502 president Cynthia Schulz.
Govind Rao

Ontario Council of Hospital Unions - defending healthcare in every community - 0 views

www.ochu.on.ca

from heather cupe Ontario private clinics privatization

shared by Govind Rao on 17 Sep 13 - No Cached
  • Request for an inquest was denied; Family sues hospital for son's death, Sept. 12 Toronto Star - Mon Sep 16 2013 Family sues hospital for son's death, Sept. 12
  • the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU), which represents front-line staff at St. Joseph's in Hamilton where the death occurred, publicly called for an inquest.
  • Mandatory flu shot for health staff misdirected November 2, 2012To save lives, prevent thousands of needless deaths stop provincial policies that cause medical errors, bed sores and superbug ... [Read More]infections
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • To target health care workers and take away their right to choose by making the flu shot mandatory, is misdirected in the face of recent evidence that 41 per cent of people who get a flu vaccine receive no protection against the flu,” says Michael Hurley the president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU).
  • Mandatory Flu Vaccinations for Health Care Workers CUPE encourages health care workers to get an influenza vaccination if they can safely do so. But making flu shots mandatory for health care workers is a serious intrusion on the freedom and personal autonomy of health care workers that may sometimes have detrimental effects on their own health.Forcing people to take flu shots against their will may well undermine public confidence in vaccination programs, even vaccination programs with an excellent results and high safety standards.
  • Govind Rao on 16 Oct 13
     
    Union calls for halt to move procedures from hospitals to private clinics Submission by the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions / CUPE on the Proposed amendment to O. Reg. 264/07 made under the Local Health System Integration Act, 2006 and A Regulation under the Independent Health Facilities Act - Prescribed Persons .  The Ontario Council of Hospital Unions / CUPE represents 30,000 workers in hospitals across the province, including Registered Practical Nurses, service workers, and administrative workers. We are opposed to the government’s plan to move surgical, diagnostic, and other work from public hospitals to private clinics. Our objections can be summarized as falling within seven distinct areas: 1] Quality • Even minor operations can go wrong. We believe that, in contrast with hospitals, it is unlikely private clinics will be able to handle emergencies and that they will likely simply call EMS. Will ambulances be able to move patients to hospitals when things go wrong? (We say “when” advisably, as sooner or later there will be problems.) Indeed, private surgical clinics first came to public attention when a patient died and the paramedics arrived to find a patient with no vital signs. Is it appropriate to establish a system that inherently requires extra time to effectively treat patients who fall into emergency situations? This is particularly troubling as underfunding and restructuring have challenged EMS response times. The government and government officials must be prepared to accept responsibility for such deaths if this plan is approved. 
Govind Rao

Bill 1 essentially an attack on women's rights - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|245142|cbpo|20141122|208809234

from heather NS cupe restructuring gender

shared by Govind Rao on 25 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • Cape Breton Post Sat Nov 22 2014
  • To the editor, Almost completely lost in the coverage of and debate over the McNeil government's Bill 1 is the fact that it is an attack on women's rights in Nova Scotia. It is an attack on women's equality because unions have long demonstrated their ability to lessen the gap between men's and women's wages. Women in unions have fought for pay equity, for removing discriminatory barriers, for universal child care and early learning, for ensuring women's safety in the workplace, for gaining pensions so that women don't retire in poverty, and for decent benefits so women can better ensure health care for their families. And these gains were not handed to us. They all required a fight. And still do. Unions give women more than a voice; they give them power. The unions in this province were among the pioneers in centralized forms of bargaining in this country. They're more effective and efficient. Ironically, the provincial bargaining association model that the four unions fought for is something we've gained elsewhere in Canada. A quick political "fix" such as Bill 1 purports to be isn't fooling anyone. But politics can be a blood sport.
  • Our fight against Bill 1 cannot be reduced to a fight between two women. Both are strong, capable leaders caught in a quasi-legislative quagmire. Let's be clear: Bill 1 is about power, intimidation and control. It is troubling in its intent and incoherent in its applicability. And this is why mediation failed. It is simply easier for this government to restructure health care and have unions fighting each other than exploring what makes Nova Scotia a good place to live and raise a family. The Canadian Union of Public Employees, Unifor, the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, and the Nova Scotia Nurses' Union represent predominantly women workers. Weakening one union's strength at the cost of another's may, in the short term, improve recruitment and retention (read wage increases) for one group, but will have long-lasting, damaging effects on our province's economic well-being. Where, one wonders, can women in Nova Scotia go with their lives? Michelle Cohen, CUPE equality representative, Halifax
Doug Allan

CUPE argues bill streaming health-care workers into 4 unions is unconstitutional | The ... - 2 views

thechronicleherald.ca/...o-4-unions-is-unconstitutional

restructuring

shared by Doug Allan on 09 Dec 14 - No Cached
  • The first day of arbitration hearings between Nova Scotia’s health-care unions and the provincial government opened with a final attempt by CUPE to prevent unions from being assigned to designated bargaining units.
  • Arguing on behalf of CUPE, which filed a charter of rights protest against Bill 1, the legislation that merges nine health authorities, Susan Coen told arbitrator Jim Dorsey that he has the power to consider other options.
  • Although a lawyer for the health associations portrayed this as unions calling for the status quo, Coen noted that the four unions (CUPE, Unifor, Nova Scotia Nurses’ Union and Nova Scotia Government & General Employees Union) reached consensus on the association model through a lot of effort.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • The NSGEU, which has called for all union members to vote on representation rather than slotting, argued LPNs should be able to vote on what bargaining unit they are placed with. The other three proposed bargaining units are health care, clerical and support staff.
Govind Rao

Hospital cuts hitting front-line staff: Union ; LAYOFFS - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/...212250880

from heather Ontario cupe hospital cuts p3

shared by Govind Rao on 13 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • The North Bay Nugget Mon Jan 12 2015
  • The latest round of cuts at the North Bay Regional Health Centre is a hard hit on front-line staff, according to the Canadian Union of Public Employees. The hospital issued a media release Friday indicating 75 positions are being reduced in this latest round of cost-saving measures. Twenty-six of those positions are currently vacant.
  • I'm blown away this time," said Shawn Shank, president of CUPE Local 139. I didn't think the number of cuts would be this high, especially to nursing positions." The hospital has reduced its unionized workforce by 149 positions over the last two years, through layoffs or eliminating positions. The hospital slashed 34 jobs in June and eliminated another 40 nursing jobs in April 2013. Shank said Personal Support Workers were also targeted in this round of layoffs. We see the elimination of vacant positions as job cuts. Nurses and hospital staff continue to do more with less," he said Friday evening. Canadian Union of Public Employees will lose 27 full-time positions, including 10 Registered Practical Nurses, as well as clerical positions and porters.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Ontario Public Service Employees Union will see eight full-time positions disappear. The hospital is also eliminating 22 vacant full-time positions throughout all three hospital unions, as well as five part-time positions. Of those 22 full-time vacant positions, the Ontario Nurses Association will lose 16. Shank said affected employees have been notified and have received letters detailing their options. They will have a week to make a decision. The options include retirement, layoff or affected employees can exercise their right to bump a junior person out of their job. According to CUPE's collective bargaining agreement, unionized staff receive five months notice before changes are implemented. Shank said the process could likely take a year. Right now the mood isn't good. Staff are scared of losing their livelihoods," he said.
  • It seems like the hospital is picking on front-line staff and that just causes stress." According to the hospital's media release, 25 non-union positions were also eliminated this current fiscal year, however union officials said the position may have been eliminated but the person has moved into another position. The hospital has also identified the reduction of eight beds on a mental health unit, which they say is possible because they plan to find more suitable accommodations in the community for these patients. Two mental health units will merge as of June.
Doug Allan

Reforming private drug coverage in Canada: Inefficient drug benefit design and the barr... - 0 views

www.healthpolicyjrnl.com/...fulltext

drugs benefits

shared by Doug Allan on 04 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • Reforming private drug coverage in Canada: Inefficient drug benefit design and the barriers to change in unionized settings
  • The Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association, concerned about the sustainability of private drug coverage in Canada, has asked for government help to reduce costs [11x[11]Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association, Inc. CLHIA report on prescription drug policy; ensuring the accessibility, affordability and sustainability of prescription drugs in Canada. Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association Inc., ; 2013See all References][11]. Growing administrative costs of private health plans continues to put additional financial pressures on the capacity to offer private health benefits [12x[12]Law, M., Kratzer, J., and Dhalla, I.A. The increasing inefficiency of private health insurance in Canada. Canadian Medical Association Journal. 2014; 186See all References][12].
  • Most Canadians are covered through private drug plans offered mostly by employers through supplemental health benefits: 51% of Canadian workers have supplemental medical benefits [2x[2]Morgan, S., Daw, J., and Law, M. Rethinking pharmacare in Canada. CD Howe Institute, ; 2013 (Commentary 384)See all References][2], and since work-related health insurance also covers dependents of employees with coverage, as many as two-thirds of Canadians are covered by health insurance plans.
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • Prescription drug spending in Canada's private sector has increased nearly fivefold in 20 years, from $3.6 billion in 1993 to $15.9 billion in 2013 [3x[3]Express Script Canada. 2013 Drug trend report. ESI, Mississauga; 2014 (http://www.express-scripts.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/FINAL_executive%20summary_FINAL.pdf [accessed 01.06.14])See all References][3].
  • Private drug plans in Canada are often considered wasteful because they accept paying for higher priced drugs that do not improve health outcomes for users and use costly sub-optimal dispensing intervals for maintenance medications. As a consequence, it is estimated that private drug plans in Canada wasted $5.1 billion in 2012, which is money spent without receiving therapeutic benefits in return [4x[4]Express Scripts Canada. Poor patient decisions waste up to $5.1 billion annually, according to express script Canada. (June)Press release, ; 2013 (http://www.express-scripts.ca/about/canadian-press/poor-patient-decisions-waste-51-billion-annually-according-express-scripts [accessed 01.06.14])See all References][4]. This amount represented 52% of the total expenditures of $9.8 billion by private insurers on prescription drugs for that year [5x[5]Canadian Institute for Health Information. Drug Expenditure in Canada 1985 to 2012. CIHI, Ottawa; 2013See all References][5].
  • Respondents from all categories mentioned that, in contrast to employers, the over-riding objective of unions is to maximize their benefits with minimal co-payments for their employees.
  • The study focused on large unionized workplaces that had Administrative Services Only (ASO) plans, where the employer is responsible for the costs of benefit plans and bears the risks associated with it, while insurers are just hired to manage claims.
  • This study focused on ASO arrangements because they are the most common insurance option chosen by large private-sector firms [16x[16]Sanofi. Sanofi Canada healthcare survey. Rogers Publishing, Laval; 2012See all References][16]. Those organizations whose activities resided solely in the province of Québec, where the regulation of private drug plans differs [17x[17]Commissaire de la santé et du bien être du, Québec., Les médicaments d’ordonnance: État de la situation au Québec. Gouvernement du Québec, Québec; 2014See all References][17], were excluded.
  • Respondents from all categories indicated that consistency of benefits with other market players is of significance to employers.
  • Sean O’BradyxSean O’BradySearch for articles by this authorAffiliationsÉcole de relations industrielles, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, CanadaInteruniversity Research Centre on Globalization and Work (CRIMT), Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Marc-André GagnonxMarc-André GagnonSearch for articles by this authorAffiliationsSchool of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaCorrespondenceCorresponding author at: School of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University (RB 5224), 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1S 5B6. Tel.: +1 613 520 2600.xMarc-André GagnonSearch for articles by this authorAffiliationsSchool of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaCorrespondenceCorresponding author at: School of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University (RB 5224), 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1S 5B6. Tel.: +1 613 520 2600., Alan Cassels
  • The employers indicated that their over-riding strategy is to maintain cost-neutrality in providing drug benefits – in the context of overall compensation – to employees: any increases in the costs of a particular benefits area must be off-set by cost-savings elsewhere. Controlling knowledge was also frequently reported by the union-side respondents (and by one consultant that services employers) as a strategy to achieve greater control over negotiations and plan design by firms. According to one union representative, “
  • the employer always has the advantage in this stuff because they have all of the information with respect to the reports and the costs from the insurer or the advisor”
  • According to one consultant, “no one knows the cost of drug benefit plans.” This respondent was arguing that few involved in benefit design, either in private firms, unions, or insurers, are sufficiently competent to undertake proper analyses of claims data so they do not really know how proposed plan changes could affect them. This lack of expertise has ramifications for the education of stakeholders on the outcomes of benefit design.
  • However, when speaking of for-profit insurers, participants from all groups argued that insurers have no financial incentives to cut costs for employers, as indicated by one employer saying: “from my experience on the committees, I don’t get the impression that the insurers are there to save costs for the employers. I haven’t seen it. It's always been the other direction.” This claim was also corroborated by a benefits consultant, who argued that “there has been a fair bit of inertia, you know, amongst the providers out there in actually doing something too radical, too leading edge” because “there's no direct financial incentive for insurance companies or pharmacy benefit managers to actually help employers save money”.
  • Expanding on this, another consultant argued that an insurer's commission structure, which is based on volumes of claims expressed in a dollar value, may in fact discourage insurance companies from proposing plan designs that reduce the volumes of claims, as doing so would adversely affect company profits. Furthermore, another benefits consultant indicated that insurers are experts who calculate risk and thereby have no aptitude for the creation of formularies. According to this respondent, the impact is that insurance companies excel at managing risk, yet fare poorly in designing cost-effective plans that rely on the design and implementation of formularies.
  • An interesting finding from the interview data was that respondents from all interviewed groups declared being in favor of introducing some sort of arrangement for a national drug plan. Some favored having a universal pharmacare program which would apply to all drugs, while others favored programs tailored for catastrophic drug coverage. Two of the insurers that responded to this question explicitly favored some form of universal catastrophic drug coverage while the other favored universal pharmacare.
  • Each of the union representatives and one employer interviewed for this study expressed their support for universal pharmacare. Three out of five consultants argued in favor of a national pharmacare plan while the other two favored some other form of national risk pooling or formulary management to address costs.
  • While a majority of interviewees favored some form of universal coverage, a few respondents from the insurer and employer sides expressed concerns that universal pharmacare is not feasible.
  • Finally, employers were most concerned with the government's role in distributing the costs associated with drug coverage among public and private players in the system. In fact, each employer expressed concern over this. Three of the four employers expressed concern over the government's role as a plan sponsor and how governments shift costs to the private sector. As described by one employer, “the government is a very big consumer of drugs” and if the drug companies “start losing money on the government side, they pass it on to private insurance”. Thus, government regulations that help employers contain costs are desired.
  • Marc-Andre Gagnon has received research funding by the Canadian Federation of Nurses’ Unions for a different research project related to drug coverage in Canada. Alan Cassels is co-director of DECA (Drug Evaluation Consulting and Analysis). The authors would like to acknowledge the financial contribution of the Canadian Health Coalition in order to pay for the transcription of interviews.
Irene Jansen

Care-home operator to lay off unionized staff - The Globe and Mail - 0 views

www.theglobeandmail.com/...print

privatization contracting out bc chartwell ltc

shared by Irene Jansen on 23 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • One of North America’s largest operators of seniors’ care homes is laying off all of its unionized staff at Malaspina Gardens in Nanaimo and will replace them with contracted-out workers by July, part of a plan to build a new facility.
  • The 177 workers at the 135-bed long-term care home got word just after New Year’s Day from employer Chartwell Seniors Housing Real Estate Investment Trust, which operates in 180 Canadian and U.S. locations.
  • The spokesman for the union representing the bulk of the laid-off employees expects wage reductions to be more than 30 per cent, based on past instances in B.C. where unionized workers were replaced by non-union staff.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • “The company, a for-profit corporation that receives funding from the province, made a decision to lower its wage bill to protect profit,” said Hospital Employees’ Union communications director Mike Old.
  • At Malaspina, care aides earn about $22 an hour under HEU’s current agreement. In non-union workplaces, a care aide’s hourly wage drops to about $15 an hour, Mr. Old said.
Govind Rao

St. Joe's grieves union revelation; CUPE says 'employer trying to silence us' with prec... - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|245142|hbsp|20150514|220458104

from heather cupe Ontario hospital funding budget

shared by Govind Rao on 14 May 15 - No Cached
  • The Hamilton Spectator Thu May 14 2015
  • St. Joseph's Healthcare has filed a grievance against the union for revealing that it spends $300,000 a year on taxi bills on top of its in-house transportation service and contracted private transit company. "The employer is trying to silence us with this grievance," said Domenic DiPasquale, president of Local 786 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. "It's taxpayers' money ... We've done nothing wrong."
  • The hospital corporation is considering cutting its in-house transportation service, and this prompted the April 16 media conference by the union that represents the five drivers who operate shuttle minivans between the sites on Charlton Avenue, West 5th Street and King Street East. At the media event, the union said the in-house transportation system costs about $200,000 a year to run and has the capacity to handle the roughly 22,000 calls a year for patient-related transport. However, it has been capped at 17,000 calls. The union also accused the hospital of wasting $300,000 a year on taxis. Two weeks later the hospital filed the grievance, which the union believes is a first in the local's 50-year history. CEO Kevin Smith says St. Joseph's voluntarily gave the union information about what it spends on transportation and making it public was against the collective agreement.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Vincent Gogolek, executive director of the British Columbia Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, says it's common for public institutions to disclose what they spend on taxis and St. Joseph's should have made the information public. "This should be financial accountability," he said. "The push is to post." But Smith says there are written contracts with the private sector specifying that the hospital not disclose financial information. "At the end of this process if there is a way to legally share the information about how much we spend, we'll absolutely do that," said Smith. "You have my commitment, I'll disclose it."
1 - 20 of 1405 Next › Last »
Showing 20▼ items per page