I had the incredible opportunity to join the ‘Ride for Africa’ on its climb of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and at the same time raise some funds for two grassroots projects in Africa.  The ‘Ride’ connected with ‘Hands Across Africa’, a charitable group that has its genesis with HSAA members. 

Money is still coming in, so the final total is, as yet, unknown.  My profound thanks to all contributors, individual and organizational, identified and anonymous, who helped me and the other climbers to reach their fundraising goals of $2000 each. 

The climb was tough, but I think acting as Director of the annual Alberta Federation of Labour’s ‘Kids’ Camp’ may have been tougher.  However, the amazing volunteers, including five connected to HSAA, made that five day adventure a lot of fun, and quite gratifying.  Kudos also to the AFL staff who did the yeoman’s work of organizing the myriad of details prior to the camp; Kevin Flaherty of the Alberta Workers’ Health Centre who created fun and interactive curriculum to introduce the youngsters to occupational health and safety, the staff at Goldeye Centre and the Centre for Outdoor Education in Nordegg, and the Greyhound bus drivers who got the 105 kids there and home safely. 

Meanwhile, back at the office, staff have been busy effecting the integration of the EMS and former AADAC workers who have been taken over by Alberta Health Services.  Transition negotiations are under way, and new HSAA members have opportunities to learn about their new union through a number of workshops. 

Other efforts include work with pharmacy technician members who will become regulated professionals in the near future.  While technicians support regulation, the process that has been developed to qualify them for licensure is demanding and quite costly.  HSAA has been advocating on a number of fronts to advocate on behalf of the members, and these efforts continue.

Preparations for our Labour Relations Confernence in October are well under way, and I encourage as many of our members as possible, and particularly local unit representatives, to attend, as the conference will be part of the preparations to lead into the upcoming round of provincial bargaining (and therefore has implications for all agreements).

And finally, for this post, we have once again seen the wrath of nature.  Pakistan is still reeling from historic flooding.  Millions are homeless, and the need for the most basic human necessities is dire.  I’ve heard friends and family express their concerns about foreign aid being misdirected, and the reality that there will be some corruption.  That is a reality, but surely we cannot accept that as a reason not to make an effort.  The HSAA board will have Pakistan on its agenda next week, to determine our organization’s response. Clearly the need will be ongoing for a long time, so we can wait until our regular meeting.  For individuals, however, there is an urgency.  The federal government will match your individual donations until September 12, so I encourage all of us to dig as deep as we can to help ease the misery.

Most members will be going on some hard earned Rest and Relaxation (assuming you can get the time off).  I hope that you will have a great time connecting with family and friends, and just getting away from the incredible demands that the system you work for puts on you.  Recharge the batteries, remind yourselves that there is more to life than work.

I am heading out for the adventure of a lifetime which has been dubbed ‘Ride for Africa’ www.rideforafrica.org, in support of a local group named ‘Hands Across Africa’ .  I will be joining an intrepid group of adventurers to climb Africa’s tallest mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro, in July, and while we are at it, to raise funds for two grassroots projects. One is a rehabilitation centre in Sierra Leone, which has been helping the victims of the terrible civil war, in which rebels chopped off limbs of civilians – men, women and children. The second is the Amani home for street children in Moshi, Tanzania, which provided a roof, food, and vocational training to children who have no other means of support.

Two adventurers, Axel and Mike, are already underway, having started their trek on motorcycles at the Glenrose Hospital in Edmonton on April 20. Hence the name Ride for Africa.  The rest of the group will connect with them in Moshi, at the foot of the mountain, and on July 17, I hope to make it to the summit.

Hands Across Africa was started by a group of Health Professionals who are also members of HSAA. Some of them worked as volunteers in Africa, and that was the motivation to do more. They work in partnership with Change for Children, a registered charity that looks after the administrative details.  This is the second organized climb of Kilimanjaro, and in total, Hands across Africa has raised over $120,000since 2005.  I am thrilled to be joining this year’s effort, which is made all the more meaningful by the fact that it is initiated by HSAA members. 

Many thanks to our amazing staff and our board of directors.  You are in good hands in my absence.

With luck I will make it to the top, and hope to take a picture with the HSAA flag!

Wishing all of you a fabulous summer! 

Elisabeth

Once again, Mother Nature has packed a wallop, flooding homes, washing out roads and bridges and either drowning crops or preventing farmers from seeding in the first place in southern Alberta.

One of the benefits of belonging to a union is that we support each other, and this is one of those times where membership makes a difference. 

Members who have been affected by the floods in southern Alberta may be eligible to access the HSAA Members’ Assistance Fund.  This fund is available to members affected by emergencies.  While funding is not automatic, members who meet the criteria may be eligible for a grant of  up to $2000.  An application form can be downloaded from the membership services page of the HSAA web site. 

Our thoughts and best wishes to all as you deal with the clean-up. 

Elisabeth

We emphasized to the committee the HSAA position on health care that supports not only the principles of the Canada Health Act(universality, accessibility, comprehensiveness, portability and public administration), but also the public provision of care.  At the same time, we stressed that while we prefer public delivery, we take the position that the people doing the work deserve union representation just like every other worker, and that we will not hesitate to bring them into our union if they currently work for a private provider.  And we will certainly fight to follow them to a private provider if services are contracted out!

A key concern is that a new Act may simply be a broad ‘enabling’ statute, that provides some very broad strokes, and then allows the Minister to fill in the detail with regulations.  Regulations can be changedwithout any debate in the Legislature, and potentially without either notice or consultation.  Given statements by government and AHS CEO Stephen Duckett, it is clear that further privatization has not been ruled out, in spite of the HRG bankruptcy.

A lesson to learn – for-profit companies buy a building at firesale prices, then get contracts to do surgeries for more money than it costs in the private system, and do not have to provide the emergency care when things go wrong.  Their shareholders earn dividends, the leaders earn big salaries, and when the thing goes belly up, we the taxpayer get to pay even more to ensure that patients get their surgeries.  Does this make sense for your tax dollar?

I also raised the ongoing staff shortages, the fact that positions either drop off the face of the earth when they become vacant, or get bottlenecked in the Kafka-esque ‘vacancy management process (which may now be named something else).  Shifting anyone to the private sector does not provide more services in total, in fact it may lead to less access.

Long-term care was raised by several participants.  I reminded the committee that changing a name (continuing Care to ‘Assisted Daily Living”doesn’t make a long term care patient more independent, it just switches costs of care to their pockets.

We also spoke about the desireability to ensure that all professionals work to their full scope of practice, and that we shouldn’t necessarily need to see a physician to get a referral.  In this iday of computers and ‘help lines’, we should surely be able to develop some decision making tools that will take us directly to the most appropriate professional.  At the same time, UNA Vice President Bev Dick urged that in shifting care to other disciplines, we need to look at the whole picture, rather than fragmenting tasks just to download them to less expensive workers.

This consultation follows a similar meeting on Tuesday with Lloyd Snelgrove, President of the Treasury Board,  about the next budget.  Here we again emphasized public helath care, but also urged the Treasury Board to consider the longer term when planning budgets, and to look at the revenue side of the ledger, and to avoid the mantra of tax cuts at any cost.  We get the public services we need by paying our taxes. Interestingly, even a representative of the oil industry made this point, though he wanted the government to consider a sales tax to fund public services.

I know of at least two members who have been confirmed to participate in the “MACH” meetings, and would encourage every one of you to provide your perpsectives.  Simply go to the Governmetn of Alberta’s web site and follow the icon to ‘Your Alberta Health Act’

Wishing you a fine weekend, now that the sun is shining (at least for the moment!).

Elisabeth

The government decision to consolidate health regions into the single entity called Alberta Health Services (AHS) has resulted in the transfer of many Emergency Medical Services (EMS), inlcuding the Inter Facility Transfer Service in Edmonton, and former employees of the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Addiction Commission into the HSAA paramedical professional and technical bargaining unit.

Because of the legal challenges that resulted, the question of union representation has been uncertain for some time.  We have fully respected the right of the former unions to bring those challenges.  A decision of the Court of Queen’s Bench on May 18 confirmed the transfer.  Yesterday we received confirmation that no further appeals would follow. 

Changing unions, especially involuntarily, is not easy.  We develop our own cultures, practices and loyalties, and that must be respected.  Nevertheless, with this decision, it is now important that we achieve the transition into HSAA as promptly as possible.  Our staff have been busy planning meetings for the new members, and notification of these will be sent out early next week.  Many of the affected members have been without a collective agreement for some time, and we must now negotiate (transition) them into a single collective agreement.  It is our intention to do so as quickly as possible. 

Our goal is, first and foremost, to ensure that no one loses pay or benefits that they currently enjoy, and to extend benefits that are part of our provincial agreement to everyone who will now be part of it.  The transition must be negotiated, however, but we will do our utmost to achieve the goal.  Over the next while, incoming groups will set up their local units, and select representatives to participate in the transition bargaining.  The process from here on in will be fairly complex, so I will not go into detail in this blog. 

This afternoon our senior labour relations staff and I met with EMS workers who have been CUPE elected representatives of the incoming groups.  The meeting was very positive – we discussed the process of merging the EMS workers into our union, and the many legitimate questions about how HSAA will deal with the many issues that arise out of the transition, and how current grievances will be dealt with.

On the grievance front, our staff have negotiated a time limit extension for all grievances to the end of June.  Between now and then, our staff and representatives of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) will transfer all files and exchange information to ensure that these grievances can be properly handed off to our staff.  They may be able to deal with some issues before the end of June, but the blanket extension ensures that no grievance is lost because of an expired time limit.

I invite the professionals who are coming into HSAA to visit our web site, where you will be able to download a membership application form.  We will be mailing membership packages to every employee affected (assuming that AHS has provided us contact information). Some of our the benefits that HSAA provides (over and above your collective agreements, are dependent on the date you joined, so going to the web may speed up the membership by eliminating one trip by mail.

I am confident that the members of HSAA will join me in ensuring that you are made to feel welcome in your new union, and look forward to meeting as many of you as possible in the near future. 

Wishing you a fine (if not sunny) weekend. 

Elisabeth

The province has put legislation in place that requires that all sharps must be safety engineered devices (SED’s) by July 1, 2010. These medical sharps – including hypodermic and subcutaneous infusion products, scalpels, phlebotomy devices, insulin pens and intravenous catheters – are specially designed to minimize the risk of needle stick injuries. They will help protect our members from exposure to life-threatening diseases such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV.

All the products chosen are being used somewhere in the province now. 80% of AHS sites have been using SED’s already. Though, some former regions have no SED’s in place.  Hypodermics are the one product that will change for just about everyone. Some of our members will have a steeper learning curve than others. AHS has plans in place to help ease employees through the transition. In-service sessions will be held to learn about the products.

Injuries don’t just occur with the original user but can include the patient, cleaning staff and waste disposal staff. Needle stick injuries often occur when employees:

• Dispose of needles
• Administer injections
• Draw blood
• Recap needles
• Handle trash and dirty linens

These products will help ensure the safety of our members. As you learn about the new products and use them please share your experiences. There will be opportunity to give feedback after the new product roll out.

* Submitted by HSAA’s OHS&W Committee

It can’t come soon enough!  Just yesterday we learned that once again, there has been a major error.  This time, deductions for parking were made from pay of members who require a car for work, retroactive to January 1.  Without lots of gory details, that was not to happen without consultation with HSAA.  Our expectation was that the deductions would (after that consultation) be back to April 1, and then those members would expense the parking costs to AHS.  With the intervention of our capable staff, the error has been partially corrected, and there is a promise that the rest of the corrections will happen next week. 

Alberta Health Services has announced that it is moving to take back the direct service provision and to rely on TSSI only for the technical platform.  Here’s hoping that the issues we have had are not the result of the software, but of the service delivery model that they implemented.  Cross your fingers!!!

2. The Minister of Health and Wellness, Gene Zwozdesky, will speak to HSAA members at our AGM next week.  It should be interesting.  There are certainly plenty of issues that members will want to discuss with him.  Watch for the updates.

Dr. Duckett is of the opinion that the timing was an important factor, that the results would have been less dismal if staff had been asked after the provincial budget.  At our office, we are skeptical of that optimistic view.  We believe that the results are pretty accurate in reflecting the frustration of members about the ongoing uncertainty and restructuring that many describe as ‘chaos’.  Many are having a sense of ‘deja vu’ as they recall the mid nineties.  Among those who do remember that round of cuts, I’ve heard a couple of assessments.  One individual has developed a pretty sanguine view, stating that ‘this too shall pass, things will settle down again, they always do.  Another thought that there are a number of files that were developed in a prior downturn, which are being dusted off, re-dated, and re-opened. 

There are lots of things happening throughout the province, and we are working to stay on top of them.  Thanks all to your response to the cytology petition, and apologies to any of our members at either DynaLIFE or Calgary Lab Services.  There was no intent to impugn the professionalism or capabilties of any of our members.  We know you can do the job, but don’t want other members to lose theirs, nor do we want the service to be eliminated from the affected communities.  The more services that are cut in any location, the more likelihood of further cuts, as it becomes harder for those remaining to get enough work to stay competent. 

Pharmacy techs, we have scheduled meetings in Edmonton (April 15) and Calgary (April 21) to discuss concerns about the upcoming mandatory registration.  Please see the web site for details. 

Remember, AGM is coming up on May 20 and 21.  Health and Wellness minister Gene Zwozdesky has accepted our invitiation to address members.  See you there.

Elisabeth

Without question women in developed countries have made tremendous strides in Canada and other industrialized societies.   Legislation prohibits overt discrimination, and few today would question our right to equal access to education, to public services and to opportunities.  By and large, we no longer suffer open subjugation to men.  But that doesn’t mean that we have achieved full equality. 

While we make up more than 50% of the workforce, there is a persistent, and widening, pay gap between men and women.  Occupations that are predominantly female – think clerical, early childhood educators – still pay, on average, a fraction of male dominated occupations.  Female headed households typically have lower incomes, divorced and senior women are, on average, more likely to live in poverty than their male counterparts.  Alberta has the dubious distinction of having the greatest disparity between men’s and women’s incomes in Canada.

We are more than 50% of post-secondary students, but are still under-represented in positions of power, including all levels of government. 

We are four times as likely as men to be subjected to domestic and sexual violence, and still shoulder a disproportionate share of home work and child care, whether we participate in the workforce or not.

Some argue that these statistics reflect the choices that women make.  For example,  Naomi Lakritz, of the Calgary Herald writes that “Men are not preventing women from running for office; the women themselves are choosing not to”.  While that may be technically correct, it ignores the reality that there are still considerable barriers, both financial and social, that hinder the full participation of women.  Whether it is childcare, eldercare, finances or pervasive social norms, these barriers exist, whether or not Ms. Lakritz is aware of them.

Last week I was privileged to attend the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women’s 54th annual meeting, where governments reported on the progress they have made toward gender equality.  In one session I attended, I  heard eight speakers, representing groups of countries with well over half the population of the world.  Seven of the eight were men.  They were not all from the developing world.

We no longer have to prove that women are ‘persons’.  (In 1928 Canadian women did have to go to the Privy Council in England to be recognized as such) We no longer have to quit our jobs when we get pregnant. We can, indeed, participate in the political process, and some women have attained positions of considerable authority.  The chief justice of Canada is a woman.  We have had (very briefly) a female Prime Minister.  “Hurricane” Hazel McCallion has been the mayor of Mississauga for over 30 years. 

In my opinion, we will have achieved equality when a woman  leader is no longer a notable anomaly; when pay equity is a reality everywhere, and our governments stop arguing that they cannot afford it; when high quality, affordable childcare allows every woman who chooses to participate in the workforce; when domestic and sexual violence is a rare aberration, and when we can be judged to be capable or incapable without reference to our gender.

Good for us - both men and women – that we have made tremendous progress toward equality.  We are all enriched because of it. But we still have work to do, at home and in other parts of the world.

CUPE has applied for a stay, and an injunction of that decision, while it launches an appeal with the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench.  While HSAA respects CUPE’s right to access legal avenues, EMS employees cannot be left in limbo with regard to their rights in the workplace.

HSAA is ready to welcome EMS and former AADAC employees to full participation within our union, and to enjoy the benefits of membership.  We have arranged with Alberta Health Services to put all but the most critical labour relations matters on hold until the ALRB and the Court of Queen’s Bench decide on these two applications.  The nature of a ‘stay’ and ‘injunction’ are such that they will normally be heard quickly. 

In anticipation that the decision of the ALRB will be upheld, we have scheduled information meetings for each of the EMS units that are the subject of the decision.  We will also arrange opportunities for incoming members from AADAC to get to know HSAA as soon as we know for certain that the ruling will stand.  In the unlikely event that an injunction is granted, meetings would be cancelled.

 We have been very patient with the rhetoric that has accompanied the process of consolidating EMS into Alberta Health Services.  We have chosen not to engage in a ‘tit for tat’, preferring to stand on our record.  And that record is one of enhancing the benefits and rights of members, wherever they happen to work.  Suggestions that HSAA will bargain away rights are as irresponsible as claims that any union can guarantee provisions forever. 

I encourage you to visit our union’s website at www.hsaa.ca for further information regarding upcoming orientation meetings for new EMS members, and look forward to meeting you at one of them.

In Solidarity,

Elisabeth R. Ballermann

President