Monday April 27, 2009

Monday Highlights

Resolution #1: Passed
The Bargaining Committee will actively pursue increasing responsibility pay for charge nurses at the next round of negotiations.

Constitutional Amendment # 1: Passed
Every member elected to any position with the exception of the president shall serve for a two year period beginning May 1 of the calendar year or until replaced in accordance with the terms of the constitution and by-laws.

Constitutional Amendment #2: Passed
Article 15 to require the payment of an initiation fee of less than $1 has been deleted from the constitution. We have not had initiation fees for many years and do not anticipate returning to this practice.

Credentials Committee Report
Voting delegates              261
Non-voting delegates       164
Guests                             20
Staff                                26

MNU President’s Address

The 34th Annual General Meeting began at 9 a.m. Monday, April 27, 2009.

In Sandi Mowat's address, she recalled the tragedy of Brian Sinclair who died in the Health Sciences Centre emergency room.

Mowat received a round of applause when she told the delegates the full power of the union will be behind the HSC nurses who will be called to testify in the inquest.

"It was a tragic occurrence, made ever more tragic by the feeding frenzy amoung media and politicians to find a scapegoat," Mowat said. "Already devastated by the death of a patient that they knew well and cared about, nurses were forced to ensure taunts from the public and abuse from the media."

During her speech, Mowat reasserted that the tragic death was no one individual's fault. It was a systematic problem and changes have been implemented.

Mowat acknowledged worksite # 25 President Deb Derhak for not backing down. They tried every avenue to get employers to listen to their concerns. In 2007, they grey-listed the Dauphin Regional Health Centre. By putting pressure on the region and the minister's office, improvements were made.

"After a long struggle to keep pressure on employers, the Dauphin nurses were successful in achieving enough improvements to ask the board to lift the grey-listing. We did that yesterday," Mowat said.

Mowat's speech also touched on the issue of violence in the workplace. Statistics Canada recently came out with alarming numbers-almost 40 per cent of nurses in Manitoba reported physical assault by a patient in the last 12 months. Fifty per cent of nurses in the province reported emotional abuse.

The process of installing signs warning the public of consequences of abuse towards staff was slow. After threatening to file grievances in every facility that didn't have the signs, they were put up quickly.

Assault should not be part of the job and there should be security in place to help protect nurses.

"Minister Oswald seemed a bit taken aback when I pointed out that people have to go through a metal detector to get into several bars in the City of Winnipeg, but you could get an Uzi into many hospitals in this province with no one to stop you."

They are working with the department of labour to ensure that local health and safety committees are functioning and their concerns are addressed.

Mowat also talked to delegates about Canadian Blood Services (CBS) trying to get federal government approval to replace nurses with unlicensed workers.

"As everyone in the room knows, Canadian Blood Services was created in response to the largest public health catastrophe in Canadian history," Mowat said. "More than 1,000 Canadians were infected with HIV and Hepatitis C as a result of tainted blood."

CBS is choosing to get rid of the people most able to ensure the safety of the blood system in Canada-nurses, Mowat said.

The MNU has joined with nurses' unions across the country to fight this decision. CBS nurse Karen Zurba took a leadership role in this fight. Having unlicensed workers doing nursing work is not the answer.

Mowat also talked to delegates about bargaining in tough economic times.

"We will go to the bargaining table with realistic expectations, but we are prepared to fight for a fair settlement," Mowat said. "We must find creative solutions to shore up and improve our pension plan. Our members have been clear that this is a priority."

As the delegates saw in the video of Mowat, she spent a lot of time during the last eight months touring through the province. She learned a lot about the work that nurses do in rural and northern settings.

"To each and every nurse-I want to say thank you for coming back tomorrow," Mowat said. "That truly is a commitment to caring."

Linda Silas gets delegates moving

CFNU president Linda Silas got delegates dancing to Let's Get Loud by Jennifer Lopez at the end of her speech.

"It's important to bring back energy and hope," Silas said after the speech. "In the workplace, a lot of nurses are saying ‘I don't know if I can come back tomorrow.'"

During her speech, Silas talked about the global recession and how it's affecting nursing across the country.

Many people don't think the economy made an impact on staffing, but around 80 nurses have been laid off in the last few months in Ontario, she said.

The CFNU is gearing up with for their biennial convention in Vancouver.

Helgason speaks out against poverty

The Social Planning Council of Winnipeg called on Manitoba Nurses Monday to help in the fight against poverty.

"Poverty reduces your choices about seeking better healthcare," said Wayne Helgason, the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg's executive director. "It's estimated that if poverty was eliminated, we would save 20 per cent in health care costs."

Most health problems are more common the farther down the social ladder you go, he said.

Helgason said three keys areas need to be changed in order to reduce poverty. The first is access to affordable social housing.

"Things start at home," he said. "If you have a safe, secure environment at home you can build on that."

Helgason said more support is needed to increase the amount of social housing in the province.

A better system of social assistance is also needed to reduce poverty and improve the overall health of Manitobans.

The third area that needs to be improved is investment in education. Adult learning centres are especially important for laid off workers who need re-training.

Helgason talked about social determinants for better health:

• Learn how to fill in the complex housing benefit application forms before you become homeless and destitute.
• As of June 2003, 3,037 households were on a waiting list for the housing authority's 8,000 rent subsidized housing units in Winnipeg (Manitoba Housing Authority)
• Don't live next to a busy major road or near a polluting factory.
• Become an expert in the benefit system before you become unemployed, retired or sick or disabled.
• Practice not losing your job and don't become unemployed.
• Don't live in damp, low-quality housing.
• Don't work in a stressful, low-paid manual job.
• Don't be from a visible minority - particular from a First Nations community.
• Don't have poor parents.
• Don't be poor. If you can, stop. If you can't, try not to be poor for long.