Health care workers will take to the streets this week to protest layoffs and shift reductions for those who provide frontline care to seniors living in a Chatham nursing home.
According to workers at Unifor Local 2458, three registered practical nurse (RPN) positions have been eliminated at Copper Terrace Long Term Care Home, and another 28 hours have been removed from the service unit, which impacts personal support workers (PSW) at the nursing home. The layoffs for nursing staff took effect on September 22 and the cuts to the service unit took effect on Monday.
As a result of the staffing cuts, health care workers and union members will be holding a rally to protest in front of Copper Terrace on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.
“Shortages of PSWs have reached crises levels across the province and long-term care employers clearly have no plan to provide real solutions,” said Katha Fortier, Unifor's assistant to the national president. “They should be concentrating on the conditions of care, including adequate staffing levels."
Back in July, management at the home had initially sent out layoff notices to 45 staff members, including RPNs and PSWs. However, the layoffs were put on hold pending a meeting between the employer, APANS Health Services, and the workers' union.
APANS CEO Mary Raithby said the layoffs, which have been put on hold twice, are a result of a decrease in funding from the government and a decline in occupancy at Copper Terrace.
"We have minimized the number of reductions based on repeated meetings with the union -- so significantly less hours and significantly less staff [being cut]," she said.
Despite the cuts to nursing positions and hours, management at the home is now turning to replacement workers at a newly created agency called Plan A.
“For some reason, employers are willing to use the services of Plan A, instead of the front-line caregivers who have provided regular care in these homes,” said Tullio DiPonti, the president of Unifor Local 2458. “Long-term care employers have always stressed continuity of care, so hiring relief staff from an agency, especially when they have laid off their regular staff makes no sense.”
The union said Plan A also offers "significantly higher wages than are paid by the industry." As well, nursing homes pay a significant premium to the nursing agency, the union said.
“What is really astounding is that nursing homes are prepared to pay agency workers better than they will pay their own employees,” said Mike Kisch, the first vice president of Unifor Local 2458, who called the situation at Copper Terrace a staffing crisis. “In June, when we were notified of the layoffs, they committed not to use outside workers because this is a clear violation of the collective agreements. Yet they have proceeded to do just the opposite, as we can clearly see these workers being orientated in the workplace."
However, Rathby refuted the union and said APANS ensures any open hours that need to be filled will go to casual or part-time staff first before a nurse is brought in from an agency like Plan A. She also disagrees that Plan A agency staff are paid better, as they do not receive benefits.
"Our staff are offered straight time and overtime before we go to an agency. Overtime is time-and-a-half, and if they accept an overtime shift, they would make more than an agency person," said Rathby. "If they don't [take the shift], then I don't think what the agency makes is their issue because they had a chance to take the shift and they didn't."
Rathby said her number one priority is resident care and she doesn't anticipate any further staffing cuts before the end of their fiscal year in December. However, she said, "it's always an ongoing issue; we have to look at the budget."
"Our plan is not to make any cuts and in an ideal world we wouldn't have had to make these reductions," she said. "I would hope that the union would support their members in ensuring that they're doing everything possible for their residents and not putting them in the mix of this [rally]," she said. " Residents have nothing to do with this. They can't make a decision about what's happening... they're there and they need care."
