USW Canada: District 3 - Western Canada

27 AUGUST 2010 – Former Health Care Aide Speaks Out Against Poor Care of Residents in Alberta Nursing Care Home
EDMONTON, AB – A former health care aide at the Salem Manor Nursing Home in Leduc, Alberta has spoken out against the poor care of residents at her former workplace. Sixty-one year-old Loretta Raiter, who worked at the nursing home for 27 years, recently joined Alberta NDP leader Brian Mason at a press conference here to let Albertans know what has happened to the residents she helped take care of. Due to cutbacks and short staffing, Raiter told the media that residents do not get the proper care they deserve. According to Raiter: Some health care aides have had to take care of 10-16 residents on an 8-hour shift. Some are left in wet diapers 6-8 hours a day. Other residents have been put back into wet diapers after a bath. Some sit for hours in soiled diapers. Some have been given powdered meal replacements instead of real food. ...... more

7 JUNE 2010 – Retired Health Care Attendant Recalls Struggles for Better Working Conditions
ST ALBERT, AB – When 21-year United Steelworker member Liz Beniot retired from the Youville Care Home here this spring, it marked over two decades of dedication and hard work in the health care field as a Personal Care Attendant. At a retirement celebration here, her employer, fellow workers and the union honoured Sister Beniot and three other USW Local 1-207 members. The newly retired Beniot says she is glad that she became involved in organizing a union in her workplace over 23 years ago. “Today I am able to retire with a pension – something I never would have had if we didn’t decide to bring in the union,” she says. “It’s going to make a big difference in my life.”...... more

2 JUNE 2010 – Alberta NDP Works with Steelworkers to Create Public Awareness on Government Cuts to Long-Term Care Facilities
EDMONTON, AB – The Opposition NDP has made the public aware that Alberta’s long-term care facilities are facing cutbacks, which can affect the quality of care at long-term care facilities. On Monday NDP leader Brian Mason held a press conference to provide the media with documents from three USW-certified care homes, verifying that long-term care providers have been directed by the government to cut their budgets by 3 per cent. Those documents, from Covenant Health Services which runs Youville Care Home in St. Albert; the Good Samaritan Society, which runs a home by the same name in Medicine Hat and the Rivercrest Care Centre in Fort Saskatchwen, all confirm that providers have been forced by government to trim spending....... more

22 MARCH 2010 – Collective Agreement Reached With Compass Fraser Health: Five Month Lock Out Ends
LANGLEY, BC – United Steelworkers (USW) Local 2009 members employed at cafeteria and coffee shops located at 9 different sites in the Fraser Health Authority have ratified a collective agreement, ending a 5 month lock out imposed by Compass Fraser Health. The agreement will expire in September 2012. The new agreement will bring the members to parity with other workers in the industry by the end of the agreement. The members will see an immediate $0.89 per hour increase with an additional $0.90 per hour on Sept 30, 2010. On September 30 of next year the workers will receive an additional $1.00 per hour increase, followed by a $0.75 per hour increase on September 1, 2012....... more

5 FEBRUARY 2010 – District Health Care Bulletin Highlights Compass Lock Out, Alberta NDP Community Tour and Cutbacks in BC
BURNABY, BC – The February 2010 issue of the District 3 Health Care Workers Council Bulletin has been circulated to union activists in Western Canada. This issue has an article on the ongoing lockout of LU 2009 members by Compass at several hospital site in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley. Workers are fighting for an equitable settlement at cafeteria and coffee shops. In Alberta the Official Opposition NDP are reporting back to seven communities on the results of a tour that took place in the fall of 2009. Albertans are calling for a halt to service cutbacks throughout the province. In BC, health care authorities have been directly affected by government cutbacks. Private contractors are cutting jobs and increasing workloads for custodial staff and food service employees. ...... more

16 DECEMBER 2009 – Union gets Retirement Residence Cook Reinstated After Firing
MEDICINE HAT, AB – Shirley Anten-Burfitt is really glad she’s in the union. Earlier this month USW Local 1-207 went to bat for her to get her job back after she was suddenly fired by her employer at the Masterpiece River Ridge retirement residence here. “If it wasn’t for the Steelworkers I’d probably be selling Tupperware now,” she says lightheartedly. “I am fortunate that I had a union that stood up for me.”...... more

5 NOVEMBER 2009 – Leo Gerard Visits with USW Local 2009 Picketers Locked Out by Compass
SURREY, BC – Today a group of over 60 USW Local 2009 members and supporters, locked out by Compass Fraser Health, got a special visit on the picket line. Steelworkers International President Leo Gerard dropped by to boost the spirits of workers who have been locked out for over 3 weeks. Accompanied by USW District 3 Director Stephen Hunt, and Napoleon Gomez, the Secretary General of the National Union of Mine, Steel, Metal and Allied Workers of Mexico, Gerard met with union members outside the Surrey Memorial Hospital, where they were picketing in the wind and rain. Joining locked out cafeteria and coffee shop workers from Surrey Memorial, were picketers from Compass outlets at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, the Peach Arch Hospital and Langley Memorial Hospital. Gerard praised the workers for their resolve to win their fight for a fair and equitable agreement, reminding them that they are members of a large international union that has fought many battles for economic and social justice....... more

2 NOVEMBER 2009 – Locked Out Compass Workers Seek Fair Deal From Very Profitable Employer
LANGLEY, BC – Locked out members of USW Local 2009, employed at Compass-operated cafeterias and coffee shops, are asking for broad support and solidarity from the public and members other health care worker unions. The workers are asking people to not patronize the company outlets at nine hospital locations. Those locations are at Burnaby General Hospital, Chilliwack Hospital, Eagle Ridge Hospital in Coquitlam, Langley Memorial Hospital, Peace Arch Hospital in White Rock, Queen’s Park Health Centre in New Westminster, Mission Hospital, Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, Ridge Meadows Hospital in Maple Ridge and Surrey Memorial Hospital....... more

29 OCTOBER 2009 – Road to Union Activism Paved by with Personal and Professional Experiences
MEDICINE HAT, AB – When one looks at the background of USW Local 1-207 member and health care activist Lydia Wozniuk, it is remarkably unique She does not come from a union background. Before she joined the Steelworkers five years ago she did not even know that much about trade unions. Lydia admired unions for their many social and economic gains over the years. However her life was distant from a union background. Born in rural Swan River, Manitoba, she grew up on a farm with her parents, two sisters and a brother....... more

28 OCTOBER 2009 – Compass Locks Out Workers Seeking Equal Wages and Benefits
LANGLEY, BC – Compass Fraser Health, which has contracts to provide cafeteria and coffee shop services at several Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley hospitals, has locked out over 90 United Steelworkers Local 2009 members over the issue of equal wages and benefits. The lockouts began on October 15. Union members are locked out at sites including Surrey Memorial Hospital, the Burnaby General Hospital, the Peace Arch Hospital in White Rock, the Queen’s Park Health Centre in New Westminster, the Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, the Langley Memorial Hospital, the Eagle Ridge Hospital in Coquitlam, the Ridge Meadows Hospital in Maple Ridge, the Chilliwack Hospital and the Mission Hospital. Compass locked the workers out after the union conducted a series of rotating strikes and consumer boycott actions aimed at disrupting the regular delivery of services. ...... more

8 OCTOBER 2009 – Steelworkers Health Care Activist Creates Newsletter in Alberta
MEDICINE HAT, AB – At first she thought she’d create a workplace newsletter to inform fellow health care workers about their collective agreement and how to protect their rights on the job. During her five years at the Masterpiece River Ridge retirement and care facility here. Lydia Wozniuk has heard many stories from her fellow workers. As she began to put her first newsletter together Lydia began to take a wider view of the problems that workers face. At the same time her local union, Edmonton-based Local 1-207 had become increasingly active in advocating for increased staffing and better pay and working conditions for health care workers in the province. The two efforts fit together and she created the first Local 1-207 Health Care Workers Council newsletter in the Spring of 2009. The first issue focused on the union’s lobbying efforts for legislated ratios of health care workers to long term care residents....... more

29 SEPTEMBER 2009 – NDP Opposition Kicks-off Public Hearings on Health Care in Alberta Today
CALGARY, AB – This afternoon the Opposition New Democrats of Alberta will be holding the first in a series of seven town hall meetings in cities across the province before the fall sitting of the legislature commences. These are public hearings on the quality of Health Care and Long Term Care in the province. The first meeting will be held at the Memorial Park Library here, between 2-5 pm. The meetings are being held to gather information and ask for solutions from key stakeholders in the health care field including health care workers in both the public and private sectors. Those who work in health and wellness, seniors’ care and family support are also welcomed to attend along with businesses, municipalities and others. USW Local 1-207, which represents about 800 workers in the private health care industry, primarily in residential care facilities, is encouraging it members to attend the sessions where possible....... more

2 SEPTEMBER 2009 – Health Care Bulletin Sent to District 3 Council Members
BURNABY, BC – Today a September 2009 issue of the District 3 Health Care Workers Council Bulletin has been sent to health care activists in Alberta and British Columbia. The issue feature articles on organizing, collective bargaining and the looming flu season which may an epidemic in Swine Flu (H1N1) cases. Workers at the Salem Manor Nursing home in Leduc, Alberta joined with USW Local 1-207 this summer, adding over 100 new members to the local union which now represents over 800 health care workers in the province. The bulletin notes that Compass Fraser Health contract talks covering 90 USW Local 2009 members in Fraser Valley, BC communities as the company says recent budget cuts to health care have limited its ability to provide wage and benefit increases. The union is demanding parity with Compass employees in Vancouver and Victoria. To contain H1N1, the bulletin says BC provincial health authorities are advising health care workers to follow guidelines set down by the Public Health Agency of Canada....... more

2 SEPTEMBER 2009 – Alberta Local Expresses Concern Over Government Cuts to Health Care Services
EDMONTON, AB – The United Steelworkers, which represents 800 health care workers in Alberta, has been publicly expressing its concern over the Alberta government’s $1.3-billion in cuts to the provincial health care authority as a measure to deal with the nearly $7-billion provincial deficit this year. Provincial health authorities are passing the cuts down the line. As a result, continuing care services at facilities like the Youville Home in St. Albert are threatened with cutbacks. Youville’s provider, Covenant Health, is not saying hours of staff won’t be cut as part of a three per cent slash to its overall budget. “If anything, funding to facilities like the Youville Home and other continuing care facilities should be increased because they are already on a tight budget and are short-handed,” says USW Local 1-207 business agent Ray White. “If any cuts come out of staffing levels, it will greatly impact resident care.”...... more

12 AUGUST 2009 – Alberta Nursing Home Workers Join USW Local 1-207
LEDUC, AB – Over 100 health care workers employed at the Salem Manor Nursing Home here are now members of United Steelworkers Local 1-207. The Alberta Labour Relations Board granted the union certification on July 15 following a vote that was 96 per cent in favour of the union. The 102-bed faith-based continuing care facility is located in a community of over 17,000, about 21 miles south of Edmonton. Local 1-207 president Nick Stewart congratulates the workers for joining the Steelworkers local which now represents nearly 800 workers in the province’s private health care industry. “Our union’s presence and strength is growing in the private health care sector as more workers are finding out that we are the union that fights not only for the rights of workers and caregivers, but for the rights of continuing care residents as well,” says Stewart....... more

3 JUNE 2009 – District 3 Health Care Workers Council Bulletin Sent Out to Union Activists
BURNABY, BC – Today the United Steelworkers Health Care Workers Council issued its first bulletin for activists in the field. The bulletin can be downloaded from the District 3 website. To be issued periodically, the Bulletin will feature brief stories and bits of news and information on the union and its members’ work in the health care field. In Canada the union represents over 3,400 workers, largely in private health care facilities. There are about 1,300 health care workers in District 3. “With a new health care council in our district, we have a unique chance to see an emerging sector of workers grow within the Steelworkers,” says USW District 3 Director Stephen Hunt....... more

20 NOVEMBER 2008 – Alberta Health Care Activists Presented Senior Government Officials Workers’ Concerns Over Staffing Levels in Long Term Care Facilities
EDMONTON, AB – United Steelworkers (USW) Health Care Activists successfully have presented their members’ concerns over health care aide staffing levels in long term care facilities to top bureaucrats of the Alberta government’s Health and Wellness ministry. The USW group, consisting of LU 1-207 office Ray White and five rank-and-file members, met with Tom Mill, the Assistant Deputy Minister, of the Health System Development Division; Vivien Lai, Senior Manager, Continuing Care Policy and Lynn Olenek, Senior Policy Advisor, Continuing Care Policy, in early September. The five local union activists accompanying White were Faye Shaw from the Masterpiece River Ridge Retirement care facility in Medicine Hat; Jana Hruza and Eileen Shewchuck from the Youville Home in St. Albert; Diane Sidaway from the Rivercrest facility in Ft. Saskatchewan and Lydia Wozniuk from Club Sierra in Medicine Hat....... more

4 SEPTEMBER 2008 – Steelworkers Turn Up Pressure to Legislate Worker-Resident Staffing Ratios in Long-Term Care Facilities
EDMONTON, AB – United Steelworkers union representative Ray White says that it’s a just campaign that is worth fighting for. The union’s ongoing efforts to get the Province of Alberta to provide improved care levels in private long-term care facilities is heating up. Brother White says that, increasingly over the past 15 years, long-term care facilities have been “warehousing” Albertans and that there needs to be legislated staff to resident ratios....... more

6 AUGUST 2008 – Youville Home Health Care Workers Ratify Collective Agreement with Major Wage and Contract Improvements
ST. ALBERT, AB – By vote of over 80 per cent, United Steelworkers members who work as Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) and Health Care Attendants (HCA) at the Youville Home (Grey Nuns) of St. Albert ratified a four-year agreement collective agreement in late July. Highlighting the agreement are major improvements to wages and shift premiums. The proposed package contained 4.3 and 1.9 per cent wage increases (provided by the Capital Health District) – the latter having been paid prior to the ratification, combined with a wage market adjustment of 10 per cent in year one. ...... more

1 AUGUST 2008 – Health Care Worker Becomes Steelworkers Activist
MAPLE RIDGE, BC - Since first becoming a union member in 2003, Local 1-3567’s Trena Legge has become one of her local union’s most active members. Working in the health care field is demanding work and, somehow, she manages to pile her union activism on top. During her on-the-job time, Trena often cleans and disinfects over 40 hospital operation rooms at the Ridge Meadows Hospital on an 8-hour shift. Then it’s on to accessory rooms and corridors. She acts as the unit chair for some 52 housekeeping staff that works for Sodexho, under contract to the Fraser Health Authority. ...... more

20 JUNE 2008 – Albertan Health Care Aide says Private Health Care Workers Share Common Concerns
MEDICINE HAT, AB – As a delegate who attended the USW District 3 Health Care Council workers conference in March, Local 5885’s Faye Shaw was pleased to spend time with her union colleagues in the health care field and many of the union’s representatives who work with them. The conference, (see link) which dealt with issues affecting workers in the private health care field and endorsed the setting up of a district-wide Health Care Workers Council, spoke to the pressing needs of workers in the sector. ...... more

17 MARCH 2008 – District 3 Holds First Meeting of Health Care Workers to Form Council
LANGLEY, BC – In early March District 3 brought together rank and file health care workers from British Columbia and Alberta to discuss issues affecting workers in the growing private health care sector and take some initial steps to form Health Care Workers Council in Western Canada. On March 5 and 6, twenty-three Steelworker members from a variety of health care facilities and jobs met to discuss their problems and concerns and receive information about issues including the state of the private health care industry in Canada and the US and the Steelworkers’role in representing workers, collective bargaining strategies, health and safety in the industry, how to take political action to affect their workplaces and the setting up of a communications network....... more