The Report

The Report: October 2003 vol.24 num.5 by RAE JOHNSON malgamations. Privatization. Restructuring. Layoffs. Service cuts. Multi-site chiefs. Imposed conditions of employment. The only thing constant about the working conditions in health care is change. It is constant, multi-faceted, relentless• and it is taking a toll on health science professionals as they struggle to meet the ever increasing needs of patients...

The Report: October 2003 vol.24 num.5 by RITU MAHIL I will be retiring soon from my employment. Article 34 of the Collective Agreement describes health and welfare coverage as a condition of employment for regular employees and states that the plan becomes effective on the 1st of the calendar month following the date of hire. My retirement date falls mid...

The Report: October 2003 vol.24 num.5 by DAN KEETON ts a bucolic setting and so remote: by the urban standards of most Canadians, it would seem working a shift in Queen Charlotte Islands Hospital would be a cakewalk. Derek Barton Chief steward & X-ray technologist Queen Charlotte Islands Hospital Not so, says Derek Barton. The x-ray technologist at the hospitals...

The Report: October 2003 vol.24 num.5 by YUKIE KURAHASHI lex Finley figures she has been x-rayed “about five million times.” Finley became familiar with x-rays and radiography early in life, when she was diagnosed with scoliosis. Alex Finley Radiographer Mount St. Joseph's Hospital But she didn’t let it slow her down. “I was in my early 20s when I had...

The Report: August 2003 vol.24 num.4 he Competition Bureau of Canada has agreed to investigate a complaint filed against the pricing practices of major drug companies. Initiated by the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) in co-operation with a coalition of unions, seniors groups and consumer watchdogs, the complaint alleges anti-competitive practices in the pharmaceutical industry. “This is...

The Report: August 2003 vol.24 num.4 by CAROLE PEARSON n El Salvador, health care workers, including doctors, have been on strike for nine months to protest government efforts to privatize the countrys health system. Salvadoran President Francisco Flores and the ruling National Republican Alliance (ARENA) party claim privatizing the health system will bring health care -to each according to the...

The Report: August 2003 vol.24 num.4 by CINDY STEWART C NDP leader Joy MacPhail announced early in June that she will not be seeking the leadership of the party at the convention this coming November. In making her announcement, she said that in the two years since the Liberal government’s landslide victory, her party has not only survived but is...

The Report: August 2003 vol.24 num.4 by RON OHMART n the months leading up to the expiry of several collective agreements in the public sector, its time to begin to turn our attention to HSAs approach to bargaining. We are already heading into uncharted territory as the preliminary work gets underway in the community social services sector. In May, the...

The Report: August 2003 vol.24 num.4 by BONNIE PHILLIPS recently visited the Canadian Blood Services with the goal of investigating the current state of affairs with the pending closure of the testing laboratory, originally slated for April 2004 but recently moved forward to September 2003. As region 5s elected representative on HSAs board of directors, I felt I needed to...

The Report: August 2003 vol.24 num.4 by BRUCE WILKINS I have heard that our rights around the 7.5 hour day have changed. Have they changed, and what does it mean for me? An arbitration decision in June 2003 has indeed changed the union’s collective agreement rights under Appendix 7 of the 2001-2004 Paramedical Professional Bargaining Association contract (related to Article...