October 14, 2005
Over 600 UNA members will be in Edmonton October 25, 26 and 27th for the provincial Annual General Meeting. Besides elections and guest speakers, nurses will be considering a special report on restructuring the Local organization of UNA. A report from David Fairey of the Trade Union Research Bureau has made recommendations on how to most effectively adapt to Bill 27 and the larger bargaining units that include many Locals. In another informative session, a special expert panel will be bringing detailed information on the hot political topic of the crisis in Alberta’s long-term care.
Nurses need to be selected through their Local to come to the meeting either as representative voting delegates or as observers.
UNA sending nurses to labour schools
The United Nurses of Alberta will NOT be holding their own Labour School in 2006. Instead, money has been allocated to already existing Labour Schools (AFL/CLC Annual Labour School and District Labour Schools).
UNA will fund 10 members to attend the AFL/CLC 2006 Labour School in Jasper, Alberta (January 16 - 27, 2006). Members selected must choose one of the two weeks. The distribution of the ten members shall be two members per UNA District - one Local Executive member and one non-Local Executive member (a “grassroots” member). Districts must provide the names of the selected individuals to Provincial Office (attention: Jane Sustrik) NO LATER than November 4, 2005.
Funding will include registration (which includes accommodation, applicable taxes, meals, refreshment breaks, gratuities, banquet and dance, child care if needed, course materials and kit), travel, wages (for LOA’s only) and Park Pass fee.
CFNU releases paper on nurse-patient ratios
“Nurse-Patient Ratios or nurse staffing plans may provide a formalized mechanism that nurses and the general public can use to hold health organizations accountable for their staffing decisions,” says Linda Silas, RN, BScN, President of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions. The national federation released the first Canadian discussion paper on Nurse-Patient Ratios this week.
The overall objective of the project was to examine what models to determine staffing levels exist currently in Canada and internationally (U.S. and Australia), and to learn the opinions of nursing stakeholders and of staff nurses.
Authored by Dr. Gail Tomblin Murphy, the paper is titled Enhancement of Patient Safety through Formal Nurse-Patient Ratios: A Discussion Paper. It is available on the CFNU website, www.nursesunions.ca/
Nurses protesting long-term care cuts in Lethbridge
This week the Region announced that it will be ending its use of the Lethbridge Extendicare facility as a nursing home and moving to more assisted living in the city. Extendicare nurses are joining with CUPE members and others in a campaign they call “LTC: Lost Tired and Confused.” The first action was a rally Friday October 7 at 9 am at the Chinook Health Region headquarters.
Earlier this year the Chinook Health Region announced it was ending the nursing home services at the St. Michaels auxiliary hospital and converting the facility to supplement services at the Lethbridge Regional.
In just a few months the Health Region has announced the almost complete destruction of its nursing home capacity and a wholesale move to the lower care levels of assisted living.
BC teachers defy law and imposed contract
BC schools continue to be closed and teachers are defying a special law the government passed to attempt to force them into a contract. The BC Teachers Federation (BCTF) has already been found in contempt of court and has faced further court action.
On October 14th, the BC Supreme Court made a surprise ruling against the BCTF that froze their $14M collective bargaining fund. This prevents the BCTF from funding any part of the strike, including strike pay for members. However, it is unclear at this time whether the ruling prevents funding of the strike from other sources.
The teachers voted 90.5% “to take a stand for public education.”
The BC government has imposed four previous agreements on teachers. The current law imposes no salary increase and no response to teacher concerns about quality in the classrooms.
Many BC workers and students have been out at rallies in support of the teachers and public service unions have publicly talked about calling a general strike to support them.
Nurses supporting Local #301’s Rainbow Gala
Tickets went fast for the annual Rainbow Gala event that Local #301 puts on to support the Rainbow Society. Local Vice-President Teresa Caldwell says great support from nurses and UNA Locals really helped make the Gala a success. UNA President Heather Smith and Executive Board member Blanche Hitchcow and other nurses modeled in the fashion show segment of the Gala. The big party was on Thursday, October 13.
Quebec nurses begin workplace action supporting negotiations
Quebec nurses adopted a concrete plan of action for their negotiations at their provincial council early in October. They are embarking on a “work to rule” campaign that they say will demonstrate how much the health system depends on extra work from nurses.
“You can expect that nurses will be extremely visible in the coming weeks,” said Federation des Infirmieres et Infirmiers du Quebec (FIIQ) President Lina Bonamie. “We can’t keep hearing the same thing from Monsieur [Premier] Charest,” she said. “It has been years that the health professionals have been propping up the health system and this situation cannot continue,” she said. “It is crucial to put in place solutions to reassure the citizens that quality health care will be here for years to come.”
In their action plan, FIIQ members, including nurses, respiratory therapists, profusionists and other health professionals, will be giving their superiors a “task” letter indicating that from now on they will only be performing the tasks under their job description. The nurses will also be refusing to work any “voluntary” extra time. “Time worked is time paid,” is the plan.
The Quebec health sector has just come through a huge restructuring, modeled in part on what happened in Alberta with Bill 27. The exercise saw many health professionals voting on a choice of unions. FIIQ ended up with new health professionals in the process. “Now that the wave of mergers imposed by Bill 30 are nearly complete, health professionals are concentrating their energies on negotiations,” Lina Bonamie said.
Medical residents negotiations frustrated
The Professional Association of Residents of Alberta (PARA), which represents Alberta’s 1200 resident doctors, has been trying to negotiate a new contract since their last agreement expired over 16 months ago. The government, for its part, has not even provided an opening proposal.
Under their expired contract, resident doctors in Alberta currently work on-call shifts in excess of 28 hours. These extended shifts are scheduled as often as every third day, a frequency that exceeds limitations in almost every other province. A recent survey of Alberta residents showed the average resident works 77 hours per week with 35% of residents working 90 hours per week or more.
Addressing such extremes in work hours and conditions is a top priority for the residents’ negotiating team. “Numerous recent studies have proven that prolonged periods of sleeplessness pose risks to patient and resident safety,” says Dr. Roona Sinha, PARA President.
CBC Employees win on job security issues
The lockout at CBC has ended with full services back on October 11. The Employees has succeeded in protecting real, permanent jobs in the settlement announced this week.
After 17 months of difficult negotiations and seven weeks on the street, 5,500 members of the Canadian Media Guild succeeded in establishing the primacy of a permanent workforce at the CBC into the future.
“We finally have established that there will be no runaway use of contract employees,” said Arnold Amber, president of the CBC branch of the Canadian Media Guild.
The number of employees on contract will be limited to 9.5% of permanent staff. People who have been on contract for four years can convert to permanent status.
Some CBC workers were frustrated that it looked as though the beginning of the television hockey season, rather than their jobs, was the main motivator for government and CBC management to settle the dispute.
TWU announces settlement after nearly 3 months of lockout
After nearly three months of lockout, the Telecommunications Workers Union (TWU) announced a settlement with Telus on Thanksgiving Monday. The TWU Bargaining Committee recommended acceptance and are taking the tentative agreement out to the membership for ratification over the next 2 to 3 weeks. No details of the tentative agreement were released prior to ratification.
UFCW workers strike at Lakeside Packers
UFCW workers at the Brooks Lakeside Packers plant went on strike on Wednesday, October 12. Although the workers had accepted a contract plan from the provincially appointed Disputes Inquiry Board, the owner, American corporation Tyson Foods refused. The government called the Disputes Inquiry Board when the strike was imminent in July. At the last minute Tyson tried to force a vote on decertifying the union and a vote on their final offer, but both efforts failed.
On the Light Side: Three older ladies were discussing the problems of getting older.
One declares, “Sometimes I catch myself in front of the refrigerator with a jar of mayonnaise in my hand, and for a brief moment can’t remember whether I need to put it away, or start making a sandwich.”
The second lady chimes in, “Yes, sometimes I find myself on the landing of the stairs, and can’t remember if I’m on my way up or down.”
The third one responds, “ Well, I’m glad I don’t have that problem; knock on wood,” she says, as she taps her knuckles on the table. “That must be someone at the door, I’ll get it!”
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