On Friday, September 18, UNA filed a Code of Conduct complaint about misleading or untrue remarks AHS CEO Stephen Duckett has been making about nursing in Alberta.
The complaint notes that "His mistruths are creating an environment that hinders nurses' ability to perform their functions." UNA also charged Duckett's remarks are tantamount to bullying.
It's the first time the union has ever filed such a formal complaint, Bev Dick, first vice-president told the Edmonton Sun. "I think we would want him to recognize you can't have two sets of rules, one for the peasants and one for the king," she said.
The complaint specified four instances of public statements by Duckett that misrepresented nursing or circumstances in Alberta health care.
On September 18, 2009, CEO Stephen Duckett was quoted in the media as saying, "Somewhere between 25% and 70% of what a nurse does in a hospital ward could be done by someone else." In fact the CARNA study he was supposedly quoting said 27%.
On September 15, 2009, CEO Duckett wrote on his blog, "We are not currently looking at lay-offs and we will not consider lay-offs unless and until it becomes absolutely necessary." But, on Friday September 11, 2009, representatives of AHS met with the nursing and other staff at Brooks and announced that layoffs will occur.
On September 18, 2009, CEO Duckett was quoted in the media saying: "I don't want to say part time is a bad thing, but many of them say: 'I'm going to work three days a week and get paid and then do another two days of shifts and get paid for six days a week.' That's not on.” But of course, it is only the employer who can determine who works and when. No employee can decide if she will work additional shifts.
And, in an article published in the Calgary Sun Sept. 18, Duckett also said “A nurse working in our system for a long time gets more money than any other province. Not only that, in order to get that money they work fewer hours because of the length of time for lunch breaks and morning tea breaks and afternoon tea breaks and coffee breaks and everything else."
Like the others, this incorrect statement is highly misleading. " Nurses have one meal break, which is unpaid. Nurses have two paid rest periods per shift, as scheduled by the Employer, each of which is 15 minutes in length. This does not result in nurses in Alberta working fewer hours. Nurseagreements in all but one Canadian province provide for rest periods of this length or longer.
UNA's complaint says Duckett's remarks conflict with several points in the AHS Code of Conduct.
"CEO Duckett's conduct has adversely affected the interests of Alberta Health Services and has caused serious morale issues. He has not chosen his words carefully when speaking with the media. His mistruths are creating an environment that hinders nurses' ability to perform their functions and in many ways must hinder his own ability to function."
UNA Secretary Treasurer Karen Craik, and 2nd Vice-President Jane Sustrik jointly made the complaint.
"I personally think he wants to incite nurses. He wants to take the public image of nurses down," Sustrik told the Edmonton Journal. |
