(Montreal, November 30, 1999) - At midnight tonight, employees of the Centre d’accueil Vaudreuil (CHSLD Regroupement des Trois-Rives) will walkout for a 24 hour period, as will the employees of 13 other FTQ health institutions. The workers regret that the situation in their institution is back to what it was in 1997, when an Essential Services Council mediator had to intervene, namely on the issues of occupational health and safety and nursing care work organization.
“In early 1996, the parties had agreed before the Essential Services Council to give priority to occupation health and safety issues, to nursing care work organization and to the settlement of a number of grievances, and the Council had received this agreement. But with the arrival of two new administrators in 1997, all the committees created to solve problems were boycotted by management and problems dating back to 1996 resurfaced”, according to CUPE Local 2805 (FTQ) President Yvette Doire.
“Systematic challenging of people on sick or work injury leave, requests for ridiculous expert reports, increased workloads and more patients with diminished independence: all the ingredients of the 1996 crisis are once more assembled. And the administrator categorically rejected the union’s request to explain the situation before the institution’s board of directors even though the members of this same board voted to hear the workers’ complaints”, regrets the President.
“This is the context in which our members gave us a very clear strike mandate in November, at a General Meeting. Obviously, we support provincial bargaining, but our members have had enough of the situation at the Centre d’accueil Vaudreuil. This must be settled expeditiously. We do not want patients to suffer from this situation as they did in 1996-1997”, Yvette Doire concluded.
Information: Yvette Doire, Pager: (514) 423-6654