April 25 2007
Provincial negotiations stall
Parties far apart, agree to call in mediator
Provincial negotiations stalled with UNA and the Health Regions still far apart by the agreed-upon deadline of March 31, 2007.
“We were disappointed we could not reach a new deal by our March 31 goal,” says UNA President Heather Smith. “The employers’ proposals fall short of what we need to get and keep the nurses our health system desperately needs,” she said.
The UNA Negotiating Committee and the Health Boards of Alberta Services (HBAS) have agreed to voluntary mediation and have set dates in April and May for further talks with mediator David Jones.
“The Health Regions are NOT coming to the table with the resources necessary to address the nursing shortage,” Heather Smith says.
UNA also wrote to Premier Ed Stelmach and Health and Wellness Minister Dave Hancock urgently requesting meetings on the health human resource crisis in the province. Both declined to meet while bargaining is going on.
On April 19, UNA did a telephone broadcast to all members covered by provincial negotiations. Heather Smith’s recorded message provided an update for all members on the move into mediation and the failure to meet the deadline.
St. Joseph’s reopens to admissions in Vegreville
UNA Vice President Bev Dick recently met with the newly installed management Board for Vegreville’s St. Joseph’s Hospital and asked the Board to undertake public education to rebuild confidence in the facility.
“The citizens need to know that high standards are being met and the care provided is high quality,” Bev Dick said later. “They should have confidence in their hospital staff.”
Meanwhile, on April 17, East Central Health announced it was re-opening the hospital to new admissions.
“I have no doubts that the staff and physicians at the hospital are committed to providing quality patient care for the residents of their community,” said Dr. Gerhard Benadé, the Medical Officer of Health for the Region who had stopped admissions at the hospital just a month earlier. “The public should have no hesitation in being a patient in the hospital or using its emergency room services.”
Provincial budget boosts health spending, NO details on health workforce
The provincial budget came down on April 19 with an overall increase of 12.2 per cent to a total of $12 billion for Health and Wellness. But the operating budgets for the province’s Health Regions only got an average 9.5 per cent increase and there was little money specifically directed at the health workforce crisis. The budget only allocated $30 million in Employment, Immigration and Industry “to address labour shortages in the health care sector.” The Physicians Services budget, now up to $2.4 billion was increased by over 20%.
Federal election on the horizon?
Betterchoice.ca… the CLC’s campaign
Whether Prime Minister Stephen Harper decides to call an election this month or not, the Canadian Labour Congress is campaigning to put five working people issues on the table. There are five issues but, the CLC says, only ONE question: “Who’s on your side?
Jobs, education and skills, pensions, medicare and child care are the topics.
The CLC says we need to extend Medicare to the pharmacy. Three million Canadians are left on their own to pay for medicines their families need because they are uninsured or under-insured for drugs. The impacts of this growing problem are felt by provincial governments and hospitals.
“Canada’s working families need a plan that would provide equal access to prescription drugs and would cover essential drugs in the way that medicare now covers hospitals and physicians.”
AUPE tells LPNs UNA insulting them
The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees has suggested to its Licensed Practical Nurse members that UNA has slighted them with a recent advertising campaign. Although UNA’s advertising had nothing to do with LPNs, AUPE is telling them they should take offense at the headline for UNA’s campaign: “It takes Registered Nurses for safe health care!” AUPE President Doug Knight sent a letter about the ad to AUPE LPN members.
The advertising message to the public was entirely about the worsening shortage of Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses. Our health system already has serious problems caused by this shortage. The campaign was designed to make people aware of this and of the real implications the growing crisis has for the care of all our loved ones. There is also, of course, a serious shortage of LPNs.
UNA represents a number of LPNs and other LPNs regularly approach UNA about joining. AUPE is apparently on the defensive and actively trying to spin the message of the recent ad campaign. UNA’s billboard and transit advertising ran from December to February and had wrapped up long before AUPE wrote its members.
Knight, who had never contacted UNA about concerns with advertising, said that UNA is “wasting money dividing health care workers.”
In fact it is AUPE who is dividing health care workers, points out UNA Director of Labour Relations, David Harrigan. “We had no complaints about the ad from any other health profession or from any individual LPNs until AUPE started this. AUPE stretched the meaning to interpret it as a slight on LPNs, and AUPE is doing it for their own purposes.”
Calgary ends contract: Holy Cross LTC closes
Early in April, UNA was advised that Holy Cross Long-Term Care in Calgary was closing its doors and laying off all its nurses, the members of UNA Local #233. A month earlier, the Calgary Health Region had announced it was moving all residents from the Holy Cross because of concerns about fire safety and about care that failed to meet provincial standards.
Local President Roni Gray said, “The frontline standards of care were there, but a lot of other things didn’t get done. With the nursing shortage it was hard to get enough RNs consistently to maintain the quality of care and keep up with the paperwork.”
She said it was hard to have the facility closed, particularly for the residents. But she added: “It was better that it be closed if we couldn’t maintain the good quality of care that we wanted to.”
Calgary Health Region
announces job referral incentive
The Calgary Health Region recently announced a $750 “referral reward” for any of their employees who refer someone into one of the Region’s “hard to fill” vacancies. All nursing positions are considered “hard to fill” the Region says. In the same statement the Region also noted that it currently has 1,400 vacancies and expects it will need 2,000 staff in the next year.
The UNA collective agreements require that all “terms and conditions” of employment be negotiated through the union and UNA Director of Labour Relations David Harrigan immediately wrote to the Region suggesting they talk to the union before announcing incentives like this.
“It looks like a good idea,” David Harrigan said, “but what about people who made a referral last month? Getting the agreement of the union to make sure possible complications are covered is important,” he said.
International Workers’ Day
May 1 and MayWeek Edmonton
The Edmonton May Week Labour Arts Festival brings together the labour movement, workers and artists to celebrate the achievements of people’s struggles for social and economic justice through visual arts, music, film, poetry and theatre. Through the many artistic disciplines of the festival, May Week provides people with the information, education and inspiration to make positive change in our local and global communities.
The May Week festival is built around May Day (May 1st), which is recognized as the International Workers’ Holiday, chosen over 100 years ago to commemorate the struggles and gains of workers and the Labour Movement.
For a full schedule of the many sites and events see www.mayweek.ab.ca. Check with your local Labour Council about possible local May Day festivities.
April 28th, 2007
International Day of Mourning for Dead and Injured Workers
In Canada a thousand workers die from accidents at work each year, and a million others are injured. Thousands more die from diseases caused by toxic substances at work. April 28 is a day to remember those hurt and killed on the job, mourn the loss of our fellow workers, and fight for safe and healthy work places.
Calgary Day of Mourning Event:
Bring your banners and wreaths at 11:45 am to the “Death March” from WCB-Alberta, 300 – 6 Avenue SE . March to Memorial Wreath Laying Service at Noon at City of Calgary Workers’ Memorial (Edwards Place Park, SW corner City Hall, 9th Avenue & MacLeod Trail SE).
Edmonton Day of Mourning Event:
Noon Saturday, April 28 2007 City Hall A candlelight ceremony with speakers. Refreshments will follow
the ceremony.
On the Lighter Side
A woman went to her doctor’s office where she was seen by one of the new doctors. After about four minutes in the examination room, she burst out, screaming as she ran down the hall. An older doctor stopped her and asked what the problem was, and she told him her story. After listening, he had her sit down in another room and told her to relax. The older doctor marched down the hallway back to the first doctor was and demanded, “What’s the matter with you? Mrs. Terry is 63 years old, she has four grown children and seven grandchildren, and you told her she was pregnant?” The new doctor calmly continued to write on his clipboard and without looking up said, “Does she still have the hiccups?”
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