Hide Article Text (OCR)
By Paul McKieNurses have blacklisted Winnipeg’s Concordia Genera! Hospital ~ the first time such an action has ever been taken — and asked that nurses not apply for jobs there because of poor working conditions.The Manitoba Nurses Union issued notices to nurses across the province last week alerting them to the blacklist approved by the MNU board in November. The memo is posted on union bulletin boards in hospitals province-wide.Nurses are asked not to apply for anyposition at Concordia until the blacklistis lifted.The union — which uses the term greylist instead of blacklist — cites continued management violations of the collective agreement at the hospital as the reason for the unprecedented action.“Greylisting warns nurses that the employer is failings maintain appropriate condition of employment/professional standards,” explained the memo to nurses.“Any nurse considering applying to work at Concordia is discouraged fromdoing so until the problems which prompted the greylisting are resolved,” MNU president Maureen Hancharyk said the blacklisting of Concordia is a provincial first “This is the first greylisting in the history of the union to be posted in this way,” said Hancharyk.The memo noted that Concordia doesn’t treat nurses “in a fair and reasonable manner.” The memo cited several breaches of the collective agreement including, deletion of position, failure to give notice, employment security and replacing nurses with aides.”Gerald Hamm, a full-time nurse and president of the Concordia nurses local, said the greylist will have an effect because many nursing positions are vacant and have job postings. He estimated that in emergency alone 40 per cent of positions are vacant. About 350 nurses work at Concordia.The greylist process begins with a recommendation from a union local — in this case Concordia Local 27 — which complained about unfair management practices at the hospital. Hancharyk said the MNU board has approved other greylist applications but the locals askedthey be kept in abeyance pending a resolution of problems.In all previous cases management resolved differences before the greylist was actually imposed and distributed to members. But Concordia has not responded, said Hancharyk, not even to the greylist.“The nurses there are very angry,” she said. Nurses have to be pushed really far to get this angry.”Hamm said the contentious issue is a series of grievances over nine shift positions that Concordia eliminated.3paul.mckle@freepress.mb.ca
Newspaper Details
, ,
Mon, Jan 01, 0001
Page 0
Full Page
Clipped by
Jay F.
