IN SOLIDARITY - OPSEU

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y Rose Murrell, Local 278 W ho would have thought a year ago that I would be given the unique opportunity to share my thoughts and observations on Convention 2005! I am a member of one of the “newbie” locals – Local 278 to be precise. We are comprised of over 400 members of Casino Security. Our Local President, Jody Hutton, invited me to attend along with Local V.P. Joanne Sheehan and Treasurer, Chris Rittenhouse. I jumped at the chance! We arrived on Wednesday with time to spare and had time to get settled before registering. At registration, I happily accepted my “Delegate” badge and hung it proudly around my neck. I don’t think I fully grasped the importance of this being an election year and I soon realized that regions were like quasi-political lines. That being said, it didn’t stop me from visiting each and every hospitality suite….good thing I wasn’t driving. Thursday arrived and it was time to start the show. I was amazed at the number in attendance. OPSEU President Leah Casselman welcomed the delegates to the Convention, which also marked the 30 th Anniversary of OPSEU being a full-fledged union. On this day, only two resolutions were passed, however, the budget did not. It was back to the drawing board for the Executive Board. This was also the day to nominate people for the positions of President and 1 st Vice President/Treasurer. Leah Casselman was the incumbent for the President position and her challengers were Bob Eaton and Richard Larcher. In the position of V.P/Treasurer, Smokey Thomas was the incumbent and his challengers were John O’Brien and Ron Elliott. Each nominee was given the opportunity to address the delegates before the vote. During the lunch break questions were drawn to be read during the afternoon Bear Pit Session. What an electrifying session that was. On Friday morning it was time to vote. It was so exciting! Delegates had to go to a second ballot for both positions. Presidential incumbent, Leah Casselman, was re-elected for an amazing sixth term and V.P./Treasurer, incumbent, Smokey Thomas, was also re-elected. It was turning into a long day and we still had the banquet that evening. Things finally wrapped up at about 5 p.m. and it was time to get gussied up for the dinner, but not before my contingent headed to the Region 2 Hospitality Suite to celebrate the retirement of Chris Madill (Region 2 Executive Board Member). Leah stopped by and both women were presented with blue and white corsages which they proudly wore to the dinner that night. Dinner was delicious and it required that I take a quick nap before the hospitality suites. I called it an early night since the budget still needed to be dealt with. On Saturday the budget was finally accepted after some debate. Luckily it was taken care of before lunch so we maintained quorum. All in all, OPSEU Convention 2005 was one of the most interesting, exciting, and educational experiences I’ve had in a while. I met so many terrific people from various regions and I hope to have this opportunity again in 2006. Even the false fire-alarms, two nights in a row, didn’t dampen my spirits. ☺ In Solidarity 24
Hospital Professionals Division Stressed Out? Workload Got You Down? Take Your Break! It’s not easy being a hospital professional. Whether you are a physiotherapist, x-ray or laboratory technologist, pharmacy technician, or work in one of the other critically important hospital professions, the complexity and responsibility of the work is demanding enough. But if you are continually stretched because there aren’t enough people to do the work and the work just keeps growing, then something’s going to break. Make sure it isn’t you. Take your break. It’s right there in your collective agreement – one 15 minute relief period for each half shift. It may seem like a small measure, when what you really want is proper recognition and enough people to do the work. But taking this small step will actually give you a bit of time just for you. And it tells your hospital you are only human and need a break. Claim Your Overtime! As a hospital professional, you are dedicated to your work. Whether you are a dietitian, a laboratory assistant, an MRI technologist, or one of the hundreds of other critically important hospital professionals, you take pride in doing your job well. Often there is not enough staff to do the work that needs to be done. Sometimes your employer asks you to work overtime, and pays you the overtime premium for your time. But how often have you skipped your break, or stayed late; or, depending on the work, even taken it home – all without claiming for overtime? It’s possible that your hospital is counting on you to do the extra work. This way the employer doesn’t have to hire the real complement of staff that it actually takes to do the job. If, instead, you claimed for this time, or didn’t do the extra work at all, you just might convince the hospital to recruit enough staff to do the work. Think about it: If you do extra work, claim it, or better yet, don’t do it at all. You may find that you have more time for yourself and your family and more energy for your normal shift. Don’t just complain - File a workload complaint. Members in virtually every profession in the Hospital Professionals Division deal with the combined strain of staff shortages and staggering workloads. As professionals, we take pride in doing our job well, but this gets harder to do in the circumstances we work in. Many of us feel that the health care service we provide is not the way it should be. Many of us are afraid of making mistakes in our work. Sometimes we do make mistakes. Our collective agreement has a section on professional responsibility that gives us a way to complain about our workload. Here’s how it works: If you are stressed out and feel you are being asked to do more than is consistent with proper patient care, meet with your OPSEU local and fill out a workload complaint form. OPSEU will discuss the issue with the hospital at the labour management committee. If the issue is not resolved there, your union will discuss it with the CEO of the hospital. Some Hospital Professionals Division locals have been successful in convincing the hospital to hire additional staff to deal with the workload. Others are still working on it. Some have not been successful, but at least they tried. ☺ In Solidarity 25
Page 1 and 2: IN SOLIDARITY The newsletter for OP
Page 3 and 4: This point-form history of OPSEU hi
Page 5 and 6: (Continued from page 4) organizing
Page 7 and 8: (Continued from page 6) 1994 ♦ OP
Page 9 and 10: Balancing Work and Life It is achie
Page 11 and 12: (Continued from page 10) employers
Page 13 and 14: Local 278 establishes ‘Hardship F
Page 15 and 16: y Len Mason, In Solidarity O ne of
Page 17 and 18: (Continued from page 16) ♦ from t
Page 19 and 20: Long time activist, Ruth Galinis re
Page 21 and 22: Products of teaching (Continued fro
Page 23: Tsunami coffee connections (Continu
Page 27 and 28: New ways to Welcome New Workers (Co
Page 29 and 30: Supreme Court to hear Charter chall
Page 31 and 32: Generosity, charity and the achieve

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