Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital Workers’ Union warns against alleged “union-busting”

Published by BBNTEAM at February 16, 2023

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Posted: Thursday, February 16, 2023. 8:35 pm CST.

By Aaron Humes: A second day of industrial action took place today at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) after multiple employees were warned by their supervisors for showing up to work in short pants or jeans pants and their union t-shirts, as president Andrew Baird says they are taking things day-by-day.

“This was further mandated yesterday and reinforced by our membership because of the agitation. The members will not tolerate the management to intimidate them and sway them from participating in the activities. And the message from the members was clear yesterday: ‘touch one, touch all,” Baird told reporters, mentioning that prior to and even while the union executive was meeting with KHMH Authority management on Wednesday and later in their own membership meeting, supervisors participating in the earlier meeting were summoning employees, including union members, to be “anecdoted” – hospital parlance for being written up for code violations, in this case the dress code.

Baird indicated that KHMHA General Manager Chandra Nisbet-Cansino had given her word that the attempts to anecdote or send anyone home pending the result of the membership meeting, but shortly after that first meeting, a series of anecdotes began including the entire staff of the Pharmacy department and three clerical staff. He sees what is happening as a clear attempt to intimidate and “union-busting.”

The central issue the Union is fighting about includes what Baird describes as “continuity” in the supply chain system: “We are sending a clear message to them that we are tired of coming to work on a daily basis and not having the materials and supplies to do our work. There is a high [level] of job dissatisfaction and low morale within the institution and the management team seems to not to want to understand that.” Later, he observed that even if supplies are made immediately available, they can be quickly finished and so doctors must send patients to buy from the private sector, while the Authority is unable to officially source them.

The other issue is job security for members including doctors and staff who are on fixed-term contracts. That is normally the province of a collective bargaining agreement, which Minister of Health and Wellness Kevin Bernard set a six-month limit to obtain proposals. But according to Baird, his secondment to the Union presidency was for one day per week for six months – a total of 24 days that in fact ended last November, not nearly enough in his view to come up with an adequate proposal that management will be happy to sign off on.

“We want the CBA but I hope when the CBA comes and we start the negotiations that they will happily sign and not give us a hard time, or wait 14 years like what they are doing to the teachers,” Baird stated, adding that until such an agreement is concluded the Authority is bound by labour laws and its own policies and procedures.”

Baird finished his explanation by stating that the question of a sick-out on Friday and potential walk-out on Monday is something the Union is considering one day at a time, but he pointed out that the Union is not primarily concerning itself with the comfort of the bosses: “When a union takes industrial action, the industrial action is not for the comfort of the institution – it is for the institution to be in a [position of discomfort]. Obviously what we are doing does have a cost to the management so they are trying to find ways to minimize that cost; the way to minimize that cost is to come to the table and find an amicable solution.”

We’ll have the response from the Authority later on.

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