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May 19, 2020 - No. 35
Health Care Workers Continue to Speak
Out
Ontario-Wide Protest by Health Care
Workers for Protective Equipment and Pandemic
Pay for All Frontline Workers
• Quebec
Nurses Defend Their Right to Speak Out
on Issues Vital to
Fighting the Pandemic
• Consequences of
Ministerial Orders for Quebec Health Workers
- Pierre Soublière
• Union Locals Defend
the Right of Health and Social Services'
Workers to Vacations and Leaves
Serious
Concerns of Workers as Construction Sites
Reopen in Quebec
• Interview with Simon
Lévesque, Head of Health and Safety,
FTQ-Construction
Locked-Out
Workers Continue to Stand Strong
• Unjust Lockout of
Regina Co-op Refinery Workers Enters Sixth
Month
• Landfill Workers
in Allardville, New Brunswick Continue to
Demand Acceptable Collective Agreement
Health Care Workers Continue to
Speak Out
  
Frontline health workers organized by the
Canadian
Union of Public Employees' Ontario Council
of Hospital Unions
(OCHU/CUPE) in hospitals across Ontario staged
protests on May 14 to demand personal protective
equipment (PPE) and
equal treatment for all health providers when it
comes to receiving the
four dollar per hour "pandemic pay" bonus. The
Ontario government
deliberately
excluded more than half of Ontario's frontline
health workers from
eligibility for pandemic pay.
 Prior
to May 14, CUPE health workers staged actions
within the institutions
demanding adequate PPE but this was the first
time workers organized
pickets and marches out front of hospitals and
along city streets.
Actions were held in Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston,
Lindsay, Milton,
Mississauga, Oakville, Oshawa, Ottawa,
Peterborough, Sudbury
and elsewhere.
Michael Hurley, President of the Ontario
Council of
Hospital Unions, explained just how unreasonable
it is for the
provincial government to exclude many health
care workers from
receiving the pay bonus. He said they all work
as a team, "a team
fights COVID-19 and every one of them is at
risk" he said.
"All hospital workers are subject, under
emergency
order, to be redeployed anywhere within the
hospital to fight COVID-19
and subject to redeployment to long-term care
homes that have the worst
COVID-19 outbreaks. Now on top of the anxiety of
working with COVID-19
in a climate of very high health care worker
infection we have the
problem of a morale crisis caused by the
government turning its back on
the important contribution of the many on the
team fighting this virus."
 "The
list of those excluded from pandemic pay
includes half the hospital
workforce," Hurley said. Cooks for example are
considered essential,
but the dietary aides, who deliver meals to
COVID-19 patients, are not.
Maintenance staff who support the negative
pressure rooms are not
included, nor are the staff who maintain the air
systems or
who ensure the building is functional."
"No clerical or administrative staff are
included. The
ward clerk on the COVID-19 unit or in the ER or
the clerical staff in
the screening centres or the registration clerks
or medical records
staff are excluded. Also not included are staff
sterilizing ventilators
or other medical equipment, those distributing
masks and other vital
equipment,
pharmacy, and lab staff and almost all the
technologists."
Tens of thousands of hospital staff are not
included in
recognition pay. The provincial government has
in fact arbitrarily
imposed unequal pay by recognizing only some of
those engaged in
frontline work in health institutions against
the pandemic, while
excluding others. It's completely arbitrary.
"Hospitals only run well
on teamwork when all
staff are doing their part." CUPE said.
"Everyone should be included in
the pandemic pay."
OCHU/CUPE has also been calling on the
government to immediately deal with the personal
protective equipment
shortages Ontario is experiencing. Infections
among health care workers
are very high, particularly in long-term care.
At eight deaths and
3,600 health care worker infections, Ontario has
one of the highest
rates of death
and infection in the world. CUPE has
consistently called on the
province to order General Motors to immediately
begin production of the
N95 mask in Oshawa, as they are doing in Warren,
Michigan.
  
All health care workers should have access to
N95 masks
when they are in proximity to a person who may
have COVID-19. Health
care workers are doing everything in their power
to serve the
well-being of the public. "All they ask is that
all possible steps be
taken to keep them, and the people they care
for, safe" CUPE said.
 
Ottawa
Cornwall
 
Winchester
Kingston
 
Huron Perth; Tri-Towns
Oakville
Hamilton
Many photos honouring frontline health care
workers are posted to FIQ facebook page.
In its May 16 press release, the
Interprofessional
Health Care Federation of Quebec (FIQ) severely
criticizes the Health
and Social Services Minister's announcement that
a confidential e-mail
has been set up between the ministry and health
care workers, who are
being encouraged to send messages of
denunciation or express their
level of
satisfaction on the various measures taken in
fighting the COVID-19
pandemic.
The FIQ writes in its communiqué:
 "The
Interprofessional Health Care Federation of
Quebec
-- FIQ is exasperated with the government's
flimsy actions in its
attempt to have people believe that it is
listening to health care
professionals. Reacting to the announcement of
the setting up of a new
e-mail, ironically called "We're Listening to
You," the FIQ believes
that far from putting an end to the omerta [a
mafia code of silence] imposed on the health
network,
this initiative is aimed at limiting what health
care professionals can
say in the public arena.
"'Since the beginning of the year, this is the
third time the Minister has announced an end to
omerta
and it means
absolutely nothing. The government says it wants
news on the ground but
it has no respect for the professionals on the
ground, it is not
listening to them, it is treating them with
contempt, it is flouting
their rights by way of
decrees and is out to find yet another way to
silence them,' says FIQ
President Nancy Bédard."
[...]
"'The Minister says she wants to know precisely
where this is taking place. How is it that she
doesn't know? Do we really
believe that by sending comments to the Ministry
that this will trickle
down to the establishments and that the problems
will be resolved? Will
these e-mails be managed like those on the
website "I Contribute?" [a government
site where people volunteer to help out in
health care centres -- the
FIQ has often pointed out that it is still
awaiting the thousands of
volunteers announced who were to come and help
out in their work teams -- WF Ed. Note]
The end of omerta
should mean that health care professionals are
finally free to speak out without fear of
reprisal,
not having an email available to them to silence
their denunciations,' states Bédard."
The FIQ recalls that it had set up its own
website "Je
dénonce," where its members
and the public can
expose unacceptable situations that occur, which
the Minister has
access to.
It is asking that instead of setting up an
email, the Minister order hospital
administrations to cease their
disciplinary notices against health
professionals who speak out. It is
also requesting that the Minister and the
government stop proceeding by
ministerial decree and orders-in-council and
instead, listen to what
professionals are
saying, negotiate with health care
professionals, respect their
clinical judgment and provide them with the
equipment they require.
In the name of the health emergency, the
Government of
Quebec is constantly proceeding by ministerial
order rather than
listening to what the health and social services
workers are saying. In
particular, it has given itself the power,
through ministerial order,
to unilaterally amend the collective agreements
and working conditions
of health and
social services personnel. At the heart of this
government action is
the refusal to recognize the organized struggle
and strength of
workers, which renders all the more powerful the
essential contribution
they already make by producing the goods and
delivering the services
upon which the society depends at all times, as
well as during times of
crisis,
such as at present. That organized character,
which allows for the
deployment of the human factor/social conscience
to sort out problems
to the benefit of workers and the society, is
seen as an impediment to
the full granting of power to narrow private
interests and its arbitrary
executive bodies.
It is not surprising that the Minister has made
it clear
that this email measure is part of a broader
plan of imposing silence
on workers. In the press release announcing the
measure, the Minister
writes: "This is a first step in a comprehensive
effort to better
control privacy and public communication
practices, including social
media. In fact,
the Minister of Health and Social Services is
planning next fall to
table a framework policy that would be
applicable throughout
Quebec and be accompanied by a mechanism for
communicating
unresolved issues."
It could not be clearer that the current
political
authority is attempting to use the crisis of the
pandemic to increase
its own power at the expense of seeking
solutions to problems.
Providing those who are actually doing the work
and protecting our
lives with a say and control in determining what
must be done for the
well-being of all, is
essential to sorting out the problems.
Opposition from the Interprofessional Health
Care
Federation of Quebec to this Government of
Quebec measure is just and
legitimate.
- Pierre Soublière -
The Quebec government's Ministerial Orders
within
an overall state of emergency have given Quebec
employers in the health
sector a free rein over workers' working
conditions. Even before this
leeway, employers in seniors' homes, in hospital
and health care in
general were extremely abusive, some examples
being the use of
mandatory
overtime, staff mobility -- which in itself is
proving to be a factor
for spreading the virus in various health
establishments -- lack of
personnel, etc. These are conditions which
health workers were
denouncing long before the pandemic. The most
recent move has been the
refusal, in a growing number of workplaces, to
allow workers to take
their
scheduled holidays. In one such establishment,
the summer holidays of
the entire staff of caregivers were cancelled.
In
one case, a nurses' aide's holidays were
cancelled at the last minute.
She states that if she refuses to work, she can
be fined from $1,000 to
$6,000. She adds: "We do everything we can to
save lives, to keep our
residents out of harm's way, to make sure
nothing happens to them, but
no one looks after us." Concerning this very
serious
problem of the need for health workers to take
some time to rest, Nancy
Bédard, President of the Interprofessional
Health Care
Federation (FIQ), states: "If everything depends
on our collective
efforts and solidarity to overcome this
situation, it's not by wearing
out its own workers that the government will
achieve this."
The Quebec government must stop considering
that workers
are expendable. It must acknowledge what the
workers have always
upheld, that the working conditions of the
health workers are the
conditions for the safety and health of the
people they are caring for.
Acting as generals sending unarmed troops as
cannon fodder into battle
is a thing
of the past. It is definitely not the way to
deal with problems such as
these which call for collaboration with
frontline workers who, for
their part, are more than willing to cooperate
on the basis of their
experience and their needs, especially in terms
of working in as safe
an environment as possible under the
circumstances.
What part of this does the government not
understand?
In an open letter published on May 15,
Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN)
health and
social services sector locals in Montreal and
Laval warn the Quebec
Premier that workers employed in these sectors
are entitled to and
urgently need their vacations and leaves. They
have also placed him on
notice not to cancel them through ministerial
order. They further point
out that
sacrificing their vacations and leaves to sort
out staff shortages will
resolve nothing.
The letter reads:
"Mr. Premier,
"We have been alerted by several of our members
concerned over the possibility that a
ministerial order may prohibit or
restrict their access to vacations. Since March
21, a ministerial
decree has been in place that allows, amongst
other things, managers in
the health and social services network to cancel
their staff''s leave
and vacations, with
some already beginning to proceed in this
fashion. However, within the
current circumstances in particular, vacations
and leaves are an
essential need for workers. Day after day, they
devote themselves body
and soul to their noble vocation. Without them,
we will not survive the
crisis.
"Many of them were already overworked prior to
the
pandemic. However, since the start of the crisis
they have persevered,
despite their exhaustion, in working under
extremely difficult
conditions, in particular in the Montreal and
Laval regions. Many are
on the verge of depression; others are
considering resigning in light
of the magnitude of
the task at hand, with many already doing so.
"Sacrificing vacations and leaves to solve the
shortage
in staff resolves nothing. Far from it -- it
risks creating even bigger
problems such as the possibility of making
fatigue-related errors,
burnout, depression, multiple prolonged sick
leaves, and even waves of
resignations. There is a significant risk that
we find ourselves in a
situation of
even greater staff shortages.
"Workers need these leaves and vacations. Do
you want to
support those you refer to as guardian angels?
Then give them a break
and let them regain their strength. All of
Quebec society will be
grateful to you for doing so."
The letter is signed by ten local union
presidents and two CSN officers at the central
and regional levels.
Serious Concerns of Workers as
Construction Sites Reopen in Quebec
Workers' Forum: On April 28,
the Quebec
government decreed the reopening of construction
sites and
manufacturing companies on May 11. Are all
construction sites currently
open throughout Quebec?
Simon Lévesque: Yes, all
construction sectors have been open since May
11. This means almost all
construction sites have also reopened, except
for a few that have
decided not to reopen right away, or that may
not reopen at all,
probably for economic reasons.
WF: What has come out of this
first week of reopening?
 SL:
My impression is that in the midst of this
reopening, there is pressure
from employers to go back to business as usual,
although the
situation calls for changes in the way we work.
For example, there is a
concern among employers to protect themselves
from COVID-19, a legal
protection I would say, rather than
protection through prevention.
For example, we have a guide for COVID-19 for
construction sites, which includes a lot of
measures that should be taken.
Among other things, there is the validation of
the
health status of workers when they arrive on the
construction site. The
employer must validate the state of health of
each of their workers on a
daily basis, when they arrive on the site, by
asking the following
questions: do they have symptoms of COVID-19,
are they in contact with
someone who
has COVID-19, and have they returned from a trip
outside the country
within the last two weeks? If the answer is yes
to any of the
questions, the worker must go back and stay
home. Obviously, the
question of whether they have travelled
recently, when it is always the
same workers who work on the site, does not
really have to be asked
every
day. What we have observed is that employers,
one
week after all sectors have reopened, are
already saying that they are
fed up with doing this validation. They have
created a validation form
on which workers simply check off their answers,
or a small application
that can be clicked. They compile the answers
and say yes, they
have asked the questions. But did they take the
time to talk with the
workers? They don't have time for that. This is
being done mainly to
protect themselves legally rather than to engage
in social dialogue
with the workers. In my opinion, if we do not
establish social dialogue
in a crisis like this, we will never find it
again.
There is also, especially with Premier
Legault's current
talk about the importance of masks to curb
COVID-19, a temptation for
employers to find protective equipment that will
allow us to work as
before, with masks and visors for example, and
to relax the requirement
for us to maintain a two-metre distance as much
as humanly
possible.
We are in discussions about this with the Labour
Standards, Pay Equity
and Workplace Health and Safety Board (CNEEST)
and Public Health.
 In
my opinion, the issue of masks on construction
sites is a two-edged
sword because the emphasis is on equipment
rather than work methods. We
maintain that we must continue to work to
achieve the two-metre
distance, that we must plan the work so that
there are maximum
preventative measures being taken on
construction sites as an integral part of the
organization of the work, that we must work on
work methods, even if we
get masks and visors.
On job sites, projects are behind schedule.
Work is
being sped up to catch up with the delays, to
get back to
profitability, etc. Employers are saying that it
will cost more to find
safer work methods. We were back at work very
quickly, with people
everywhere, while the unions do not have the
prevention mechanisms in
place to be effective
everywhere and in all areas.
In other words, with this first week of work
being
resumed we have serious concerns. It will be
quite a challenge to get
through this crisis and ensure that the work is
done safely.
Locked-Out Workers Continue to
Stand Strong
Locked-out Co-op workers hold car rally outside
Saskatchewan legislature, May, 7, 2020.
Unifor Local 594 members employed by Federated
Co-operatives Limited (FCL) have been locked out
since December 5,
2019. The 730 workers were locked out after they
voted to reject the
company's offer in negotiations and served
48-hour strike notice. The
company had been preparing to take this action
for months and had built
a work
camp for scabs that were immediately brought in
from outside
the province. Production has been continuing
with scabs and managers,
cut back mid-April due to decreased demand in
the conditions of the
pandemic.
From the outset the company has relied on the
state and
police in one attempt after another to diminish
the effects of the
union's picketing, starting with an injunction
in December to limit
pickets, constant harassment, and arrests of
several workers on the
picket lines. Throughout the bitter fight that
the workers have waged
to defend their right
to negotiate acceptable wages and working
conditions in the face of the
ever-increasing demands of the company that they
make concessions on
pensions and other conditions that have been
negotiated in the past,
there has been support from workers in Unifor
locals and many other
unions from across the country.
On March 5 the union filed two unfair
labour practice applications with the
Saskatchewan Labour Board, Unfair
Labour Practice -- Industrial Espionage and
Unfair Labour Practice --
Surface Bargaining. In the applications the
union describes various
company actions including following workers to
their homes,
withholding money owed to them and, with regard
to bargaining,
merely going through the motions ("surface
bargaining") with no actual
effort to negotiate a collective agreement. In
the course of discussion
with the union after the lockout the company has
repeatedly brought
back concessionary demands that had already been
dropped in response to
the union's dropping of their proposals. Neither
case has yet
been heard.
The union requested government intervention and
the
appointment of a mediator who could issue a
report that would be
binding and put an end to the dispute. In
February mediators Vince
Ready and Amanda Rogers were appointed.
Following 20 days of discussion
with the company and the union, the mediators
issued their
non-binding report on March 19. Their proposed
resolution included
changes to the pension plan that would have
resulted in millions of
dollars being paid into the pension plan from
workers' wages. Despite
the fact that the mediators' report heavily
favoured the company, the
workers, within days, voted 98 per cent in
favour of it as a means to end the
lockout and get back to work.
The company immediately rejected the report and
demanded
further concessions. Local 594 President Kevin
Bittman reiterated the
union's position that it was too late for that,
that "[t]he mediators'
report was the process that workers and the
company agreed to, we
ratified it, and it's what Scott Moe needs to
enforce."
The union has continued to demand that the
Saskatchewan Moe government make the mediators'
recommendations binding and force the
company to end the lockout.
On April 28, Unifor Local 594 members voted 89
per cent
against the "best and final offer" that the
company has tried to impose
since rejecting the mediators' report. A Unifor
press release of April
29 quotes Local 594 President Kevin Bittman:
"The premier hired the
most experienced mediators in the country. The
premier should take the
next logical step and implement the mediators'
recommendations." The
workers are continuing to inform and mobilize.
On May 7 more than 300 vehicles rallied at the
Saskatchewan legislative building in support of
the locked-out workers,
including members of local 594 and their
families and supporters. The
vehicles circled the legislature, honking horns
and waving flags and
banners and signs. The same day, prevented from
meaningful picketing at
the CCRL
site in Regina, members of Local 594 set up a
picket line at the Co-op
Bulk Fuel site in Moose Jaw, a location that is
not covered by the
court order restricting picketing at the
refinery. RCMP presence to
harass was immediate and the following day, May
8, the RCMP threatened
to lay charges of mischief if picketers
obstructed people entering or
leaving the site.
 Saskatchewan
labour lawyer Ronni Nordal described the
situation this way: "It
appears that as of May 8, 2020 the CCRL
(Consumers Co-operative
Refinery Limited) can continue its operation
with its replacement
worker onsite camp while it has been declared
illegal for Unifor Local
594 members to exercise any meaningful right
to picket. The right to picket in Saskatchewan
has been reduced to
standing on the side of the road and waving to
passersby, unless a
driver voluntarily elects to stop and talk to
the locked-out workers.
The cycle is complete, the law protects the
right of the employer to
set up a work camp to house replacement workers
during a pandemic while
using its full force to ensure picketing has no
effect on the
employer's operations."[1]
The locked-out members of Unifor Local 594 are
working
full out to mobilize public opinion in support
of their just demands,
calling for a continuation of the boycott of
Co-op, for messages of support to be sent
to their facebook
page and other actions.
No to Anti-Worker Concessions!
All Out to Support the FCL Regina
Refinery Workers!
Note
1. "Right to
Picket All But Dead in Saskatchewan: RCMP Moves
In to Protect Co-Op in Protracted Lockout," Ronni
Nordal, Canadian
Law of Work Forum, May 8,
2020
Red Pine Landfill workers' picket March 18,
2020, before taking picket line down to comply
with COVID-19 health guidelines.
In its press release dated May 4, the Canadian
Union of
Public Employees (CUPE) informs that beginning
May 13, the 23 workers
of the Red Pine Landfill will be entering into
their fourth month of a
lockout imposed by their employer, the Red Pine
Solid Waste Facility in
Allardville, New Brunswick. The Facility is
operated by the Chaleur
Regional Service Commission (CRSC), which is
mainly comprised of mayors
from the municipalities that make up the Chaleur
region in northern New
Brunswick.
There is still no end in sight to the lockout,
the press
release states, as the CRSC refuses to
back off from its unacceptable power grab that
denies sick leave
by demanding that the workers get a doctor's
note for the very first
day they call in sick. According to the workers,
this significantly
increases the
number of employees who are working while sick.
Those employed at the
landfill and their union, CUPE Local 4193, have
repeatedly requested
that the Commission put an end to the lockout
during the pandemic and
allow the workers back in so that good faith
bargaining can begin so
that the issue is settled. However they have
faced blunt
refusal. To its shame, the Commission is
actually taking
advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic and the state
of emergency decreed
by the New Brunswick government on March 19,
that has been renewed
twice since. Following the provincial
government's March 19 emergency
pandemic directive, the Allardville landfill
workers took down
their picket in compliance with the order that
prevents them from
congregating during the pandemic crisis. This
was interpreted by the
CRSC as a blank cheque to openly hire more scabs
to replace the
locked-out workers, who further point out that
the employer is using
family members and posting student positions for
work that belongs
to union
members.
At this time, besides the injustice committed
against
them, the landfill workers are also pointing to
potential disasters to
the environment that the lockout may cause.
"Spring is coming, the ground is thawing, and
the
landfill is now an environmental time bomb,"
said CUPE Local 4193
President Serge Plourde, in a press release
dated May 5.
Among the locked-out employees is an
environmental
technologist who is seriously concerned about
the situation. "Are water
treatment testing practices regularly and
meticulously performed by
competent and experienced personnel who are
familiar with the reality
of the landfill site? "asks Yvon Richard, the
technologist at the plant.
"It's only a matter of time, in the event of a
failure
to test, a very rainy spring, to see
contaminated spills in the
Nepisiguit River," Richard adds.
In the face of this unacceptable situation,
CUPE is
renewing its call to all its organizations
and locals across the
country to help the CUPE 4193 workers in their
pursuit of an immediate
end to the lockout and the signing of a
collective agreement that they
deem acceptable, by sending letters of support
and financial
contributions to them.
In visiting the President of CUPE 4193's
facebook page, one can
see the large number of CUPE organizations and
locals from across the
country that are contributing financial support
to the locked-out
workers. Other unions are also providing
financial assistance to these
workers, such as the New Brunswick Nurses Union
and the Eastern
Provinces Council of the United Food and
Commercial Workers.
Financial support can be sent to CUPE Local
4193, to the
attention of Serge Plourde, President, 4246 Road
134, Allardville, New
Brunswick, E8L 1H2.
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individually click on the black headline.)
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