November 4, 2003.
Nurses rallying across the province
At Health Region board meetings and in front of cabinet ministers’ offices, UNA members have taken their concerns about being forced into a bad contract to the streets and to a higher profile. Nurses have held rallies and information pickets in just about every major centre of the province and in many smaller communities as well.
“They can’t ignore nurses, with all this action,” says UNA 2nd Vice President Jane Sustrik. “When nurses start to roll, everyone has to notice.”
The campaign for letters to the editor continues with excellent letters in newspapers all over the province. “A stupid plan everyone—not just nurses—should oppose,” wrote the Calgary Sun in one of its pithy editorial replies to a pointed letter from nurse Larry Connell.
“The Health Regions have spent hundreds of thousands of health dollars more on new advertising,” notes Jane Sustrik. “But the Calgary Sun gets it. Nurses’ letters are highly effective.”
Negotiations to resume November 13
Provincial contract negotiations will resume November 13 after the Alberta Labour Relations Board ordered the province’s Health Regions back to the table last week. The UNA Negotiating Committee has proposed more November bargaining dates to the Health Regions committee and has decided not to call a provincial UNA Reporting Meeting.
“We want to remain optimistic that the PHAA committee will come back to the talks prepared to actually settle a contract,” says UNA President Heather Smith. “We firmly believe a settlement is within reach,” she said. “Our new September 18th proposal addressed all the real needs the Regions identified to us. If the Regions have the will to reach a deal, it can be done.”
The Labour Relations Board has yet to announce a decision on how many compulsory arbitration boards would have to be appointed to arbitrate the provincial agreements. The Board held a hearing on Friday, October 31 to respond to Human Resource and Employment Minister Clint Dunford’s questions about how many arbitration boards he would need to appoint.
The Board also has yet to announce how it plans to deal with complaints from UNA and other health unions that it worked closely with the government in creating Bill 27 and is therefore biased and unable to fairly oversee the Bill 27 implementation.
Welcome to new Local at Venta Care Centre
Twelve nurses at Venta Care Centre in Edmonton will be joining UNA as Local #226. The nurses voted in an LRB supervised vote to join the union last week. Welcome to the new members.
Nurses go to court for independent testing in environmental clean up at the Foothills hospital
The Calgary Health Region continues to block independent verification of toxic mould testing and remediation at the Foothills Medical Centre. The United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) is going to court on November 6 to seek protection for nurses who have been experiencing rashes, nosebleeds, respiratory and other symptoms. The Region has announced an action plan for further testing and clean up of the affected dialysis unit at the hospital but it fails to address all of the nurses’ concerns.
“We approached the Region with four specific suggestions on their action plan, including that they begin the clean up as soon as possible and allow our expert representative to conduct independent tests before, during and after,” says UNA Foothills Vice President Michelle Senkow. “The Region refused our requests and in order to assure the protection of nurses we have asked the court to intervene,” she said.
“The Calgary Region took the appropriate action in closing the Airdrie school classrooms where exactly the same mould was found as at the Foothills,” says Senkow. “Why aren’t the patients and staff at the Foothills getting the same protection? We understand that there was a clean up done at the school last spring, but the problems have continued. Nurses need to be assured that the clean up at the Foothills will put a stop to the symptoms nurses have been experiencing.”
Alberta Workplace Health and Safety was conducting a joint Employee-Employer investigation and remediation process, which uncovered several toxic moulds at the Foothills earlier this year. But UNA’s expert representative was blocked from independent testing. Workplace Health and Safety unilaterally stopped that process and turned remediation over to the Calgary Health Region which has also blocked outside independent testing. UNA has an application before the courts for an outside expert to conduct an air quality investigation and to reverse the decision to shelve the joint committee. That application is slated to be heard on January 12 and 13th. Court of Queen’s Bench will hear UNA’s application for an interim order to allow outside expert involvement at 10 am on Thursday, November 6.
More than 60 Registered nurses have experienced health problems on the dialysis unit at the Foothills. Other Employees have also been affected.
Edmonton Community nurses also suffering mould exposure
It was a mess when a freak downpour flooded the Eastwood Health Clinic in Edmonton last summer. But the health consequences of a waterlogged office took some time to appear. Nurses have been suffering rashes and other symptoms at the clinic since the flood and have had a great deal of difficulty getting the Region to do a thorough cleanup. Finally, the Local is taking an OH&S complaint right to the Regional Board. The nurses are concerned that a mould bloom after the flood is becoming toxic in their work environment.
“The Region isn’t planning to stay in this facility for long, but until we move we are stuck in these conditions and we are losing nurses who won’t work in this environment,” says Melinda Devaney from Local #196.
New doctors’ deal big step in privatization
The Alberta Medical Association is expected to announce their new deal with the provincial government in the next few days. Along with new fee-for-service rates the deal includes what the doctors call new rules around working with other health care providers.
Some observers say the highly secretive deal with the province’s doctors will be the next step in the privatization of public medicare. It will be a plan to sell off primary care to physician-owned corporations. Doctor corporations will sign business contracts with Health Regions to provide public health services, everything from immunization to 24-hour clinics. The doctors’ corporations will hire the Registered nurses and other health providers they need and then bill the Region for the services they provide.
The plan would look suspiciously like the American for-profit Health Management Organizations, HMOs.
No details have come out yet, and when the government and doctors do release them, it will be a complex business arrangement.
Where the deal would leave Registered nurses, nurse practioners and other care providers is not clear. The Health Regions are pushing hard in the nurses’ negotiations to have the power to order a nurse to work at any site in the Region. They could be planning to supply the doctor corporations with nursing staff as well.
BCNU health employees reject deal in Fort St. John
BC health workers at the North Peace Care Centre in Fort St. John have rejected a deal that would have prevented the contracting out of some aspects of the health care system, at least temporarily. They were voting down the proposal for the second time as the original vote, held earlier this month throughout the north, received a majority vote of acceptance but failed to garner the two-thirds of local health unions needed.
The BCNU, the Hospital Employees’ Union and the B.C. Government Employees’ Union were all a part of the original vote.
BCNU President Debra McPherson was in Fort St. John recently to meet with nurses and confirmed they had rejected the deal.
The Northern Health Authority had pledged not to begin contracting out aspects of the health care system for at least the next six months in exchange for wage concessions, an extended workweek, reduced vacation time and the elimination of statutory holiday pay from the health unions.
The Health Authority is trying to save an estimated $6 million to help align its budget for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Not wanting to give up on the deal, the NHA extended the offer to individual locals, which led to a vote of the staff at the North Peace Care Centre.
Nurses Planners to be mailed with upcoming NewsBulletin
The much-awaited 2004 Nurses’ Planners have arrived at Provincial office. They will be mailed to each UNA member with the next NewsBulletin.
If you have moved recently and have not yet updated your address, please contact Marian Bowman at Provincial office.
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