CUPE 1252 Newsletter November 2016

President’s Message

I am very pleased to present to you the NB Council of Hospital Unions, CUPE Local 1252 Newsletter. I want to begin by thanking all the members from across the province for being involved in your Local. Since the last Newsletter things have been extremely busy. Negotiations are moving along at a slow and steady pace. Currently your bargaining team has been dealing with clear language to ensure the interpretation of the articles is clear and concise. We wil continue to bargain until we reach a Tentative Agreement or come to an impass. Regular updates will be given by your local representatives. It is important to attend all Union meetings for updates as information becomes available. Be part of your Union, be involved, be active, be accountable: you are the Union!

In Solidarity,

Norma Robinson

President of CUPE 1252, NBCHU

Update Contact Information

It is very important that you provide up-to-date contact information to your Local Executive when it is changed. Your Local must be able to reach you if necessary. If you haven’t already done so, please provide your Local with your current mailing address and phone number at your earliest convenience

. FNB Stat Freeze Complaint to the Employment & Labour Board

Update--On October 12-2016 we received the decision from the Labour and Employment Board; we were not successful in this case; the Board ruled in the employer’s favor. I want to thank those members who were involved in the hearing for their honest and compelling testimonies. I also want to thank Brother Glen Gallant, CUPE National Legal Representative, for a job well done even though it wasn’t the final results we had hoped for.

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Violence In The Workplace:

Violence in the workplace is NOT acceptable. No employee should go to work and be violated in anyway from management, a fellow employee or a patient. Brother Ralph McBride worked on behalf of CUPE 1252 with the employer of Horizon Health Network to ensure a policy and procedures for Violence was developed to protect the membership’s rights. Violence continues to be on the rise and CUPE 1252 will continue to meet with the employer representatives to have dialogue to ensure they are accountable to the employees and their protection. Remember, any type of violence must be reported and documented. We are not human punching bags and deserve to report to work free of abuse and violence.

Medavie – EMP, Ambulance NB

In the 2016 Budget, it was announced that GNB would be entering into talks with Medavie for a contract to manage three services: the Extra-Mural Program, Ambulance NB and Telecare811 Service. This is only for the management of these services. CUPE 1252 has met with the Department of Health and the Department of Human Resources to confirm what this means for the membership. We have been assured this is only for the management of these services and that employees will remain public employees under management of these services. CUPE 1252 will continue to monitor this to ensure membership’s benefits and rights are protected.

Scheduling Changes—HHN

Horizon Health Network has done a review of all schedules within the system to optimize staffing levels. What this has done is completely upset the system and staff, to say the least. CUPE Local 1252 have been meeting with Human Resources to try to resolve the issues. I want to make one thing very clear; CUPE 1252, nor any local within, agreed to any of these changes before implementation on October 1st nor since. We will continue to meet to try to resolve issues, but the membership must be part of the solution. Members must protect their rights by following the grievance procedures as well. I want to thank the Local representatives for their countless hours working on the membership’s behalf on this file ensuring the Collective Agreeement Language is protected and followed.

Premier Shuttle

You may not have heard of Premier Shuttle; they are a private company who transfers non-life-threatening patients to appointments from their homes for a fee. This company is lobbying government to be able to transport non-urgent patients from one hospital to another or taking patients from hospital to nursing home, etc. They do not have trained qualified people on this shuttle to attend to someone if they become unstable during the transport. Their unit is not an ambulance, but rather a bus. This is OUR work that our membership provides under CUPE Local 4848; Ambulance NB. CUPE Local 4848, CUPE 1252 and CUPE NB are currently in discussions on this file. There is no room for privatization in healthcare.

CUPE Local 1252 Secretary Treasurer:

Brother Douglas Kingston has been the Secretary Treasurer for CUPE Local 1252 for over twenty years.

Brother Doug will be retiring at the end of November. During the CUPE 1252 Convention the delegates elected a new Secretary Treasurer, Brother Chris Kennedy from Local 4848. We welcome Brother Kennedy in his new role. We also wish Brother Kingston a healthy and happy retirement and thank him for his years of dedication to this Union….Thank you, Brother.


Remember : The Union is only as strong as “YOU” the membership!