Descrimination: A full hot meal or soup and a sandwich

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Just when I thought our management couldn't get any more pathetic. Well, they have pushed the envelope even further.

At the begining of December the dietary manager decided (without notice) that the meal times during the day were going to change. Staff were not going to be served a full hot meal until after 12:30 pm, after the residents have all eaten their lunch. However, there are two categories of workers that usually have their lunch earlier which is 10:45 am and 11:15 am. They are the Practical Nurses and the Care Aides. For these workers they will only be entitled to have hot soup and a sandwich.

Well this didn't sit too well with these workers. So they decided on their own to change their lunch times in order for them to have the same full hot meal options that the rest of the workers were having in the building. Well the Director of Nursing got wind of this and she was not impressed. She ordered the Practical Nurses and the Care Aides to go back to their previous meal times and any change in staff meal times must go through proper channels and put to a vote with the union.

I have since filed a descrimination grievance and nothing will be looked into until after the first week of January. However, with this particular union's lousy track record of not wanting to hold the employer accountable on anything, I'm not holding my breath. So for over a month the Practical Nurses and the Care Aides will be served the equivalant of a soup kitchen at lunch time, even though their shift starts the same time as other departments (including the R.N.'s) in the building and will be treated as second class health care workers. This has created enourmous amounts of unnecesary tenstion through out the building.

Have I just blown every stereotype that the rest of the world has of Canadians? Yup, we're all super polite, deferential, keep our views to ourselves, say "eh" all the time, and keep a team of sled dogs by the igloo???:typing

And play hockey and love the queen, righto?:wink2:

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In an economy where many nurses are struggling to find jobs, I wouldn't dare complain about your employer "only" providing soup & a sandwich. I work in a LTC/Short term rehab facility & employee's aren't provided meals at all. Occasionally, the dietary aides will offer food to staff if there is leftover after the residents & short term patients are served, but it is by no means expected. Consider yourself lucky for what you have.

Our dietary staff were ordered to throw out all leftovers. Health laws, you know. What an unconscionable waste. I'd bet that a lot of them took a lot of leftovers home.

There are some good points being made about unions, not being happy with scraps, having a fighting spirit, not giving in to DON's who try to run roughshod over people. Right on! I hope more Americans will study our history and get their backs up to fight bullies and thieves, whatever form these take. We're in for some very hard times economically and we have to remember that only average people are going to starve and be homeless. The wealthy and powerful, like this Madoff guy, are still in their penthouses, laughing all the way to the Caymans. Their judge buddies lock them up on house arrest instead of billeting them in prison without bail, as they have done the bidding of their New World Order masters, the global elite who think of most of us as uselsss eaters.:twocents: Remember Rose of Sharon and the closing scene in the book?

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Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).
Our dietary staff were ordered to throw out all leftovers. Health laws, you know. What an unconscionable waste. I'd bet that a lot of them took a lot of leftovers home.

There are some good points being made about unions, not being happy with scraps, having a fighting spirit, not giving in to DON's who try to run roughshod over people. Right on! I hope more Americans will study our history and get their backs up to fight bullies and thieves, whatever form these take. We're in for some very hard times economically and we have to remember that only average people are going to starve and be homeless. The wealthy and powerful, like this Madoff guy, are still in their penthouses, laughing all the way to the Caymans. Their judge buddies lock them up on house arrest instead of billeting them in prison without bail, as they have done the bidding of their New World Order masters, the global elite who think of most of us as uselsss eaters.:twocents: Remember Rose of Sharon and the closing scene in the book?

Whenever some DON won't let a nurse go to lunch or even use the bathroom, I'll be there. Whenever some doc orders Q2H vitals or some family-member berates an aide, or Security says, "You can't smoke there," I'll be there...

I love that book.

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Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).
And play hockey and love the queen, righto?:wink2:

Don't forget prettiest national anthem on the planet.

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Specializes in acute care and geriatric.
Our dietary staff were ordered to throw out all leftovers. Health laws, you know. What an unconscionable waste. I'd bet that a lot of them took a lot of leftovers home.

There are some good points being made about unions, not being happy with scraps, having a fighting spirit, not giving in to DON's who try to run roughshod over people. Right on! I hope more Americans will study our history and get their backs up to fight bullies and thieves, whatever form these take. We're in for some very hard times economically and we have to remember that only average people are going to starve and be homeless. The wealthy and powerful, like this Madoff guy, are still in their penthouses, laughing all the way to the Caymans. Their judge buddies lock them up on house arrest instead of billeting them in prison without bail, as they have done the bidding of their New World Order masters, the global elite who think of most of us as uselsss eaters.:twocents: Remember Rose of Sharon and the closing scene in the book?

I cant agree more. When we accept less, we get even less than that!!!

However I don't think Madoff had a hand in this situation although I am furious at what he did and so many are suffering because of his reckless, selfish, unexcuseable ( i know it is not a real word but it works for me) actions. You can blame him (Madoff ) for what he did do- but I am sure that he had nothing to do with this Canadian Nursing Homes policy on feeding their staff.

When we add things that don't belong, we dilute our arguments. Lets stick to the facts and what the staff deserves. People have to right to say that the staff should be grateful for the crumbs they are given. I have been very consistent about this.

Its been some time how has this issue been resolved???

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Specializes in acute care and geriatric.
I guess "full" needs to be defined. Also, if I started work at 06 or 07, I'd be ready for lunch at 1030 or 11, not after 12:30. easiest fix is to make sure all 3 lunch times only get soup and sandwich. Or, lunch times could rotate, that is, one week a worker eats at first meal period, next week at 2nd meal period, next week at 3rd.

Be glad you get a lunch break. So many do not. Yeah, it's not the greatest meal in the world but it is free I think and will keep you going for a few hours. Or just bring your lunch.

Perhaps we should be grateful for the digoxin and lasix that we are given from the pharmacy in order to give to our patients, maybe we should provide that out of pocket too!!!

WE ARE PEOPLE NOT SLAVES!!!!!

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Thank you for the feedback thus far. However, I think that there's some clarification that needs to be done.

1) Our collective aggreement states "The parties hereto agree that in every instance the employee shall pay a fair price for any meals obtained which shall in no instance be less than the actual cost of furnishing such meals, and the said cost shall be computed by the Corporation. When employees bring their own meal, they shall use the designated dining area for the consumption of same." In other words all employees are entitled to purchase a meal.

I'm STILL not understanding the problem.

The OP answered their own question. The employer is still in compliance with the contract.

"The parties hereto agree that in every instance the employee shall pay a fair price for any meals obtained which shall in no instance be less than the actual cost of furnishing such meals, and the said cost shall be computed by the Corporation. When employees bring their own meal, they shall use the designated dining area for the consumption of same."

This DOES NOT imply or state that employees are to be given a meal. IT says that if they are then the price has to be set at a certain level. Even if the courts decided it implied a lunch for employees NO WHERE does it say it has to be full, hot or the same as everyone else?

It also doesn't say you get a full, hot meal.

I'm not sure what everyone is reading but it is right there in English. Take it to a Attorney. It's no longer a matter of opinion. The company, by the OP's very own words, is NOT obligated to provide anything.

Much less a 'full, hot lunch.'

No clarification is needed. In contract law the contract is king and if the contract states what the OP posted then they are out of luck. In EVERY country. :D

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Specializes in LTC & Teaching.

There is no resolution to the meal issue where I work as of yet and once this issue is resolved I will post it here. However, I'm very much concerned with regards to the many who have posted that they are lucky to get any type of lunch break. I would suggest that those nurses check with what ever government agency there is in your area that governs employment standards. Here in Ontario, all employers are accountable to the Employment Standards Act. Read the attached link and you will see that employers have to provide a 30 minute meal break after working 5 hours.

http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/es/hours/info_hours.html

Now I would be the first one to agree that many nurses don't take these breaks here in Ontario because they are routinely bullied by the employer, patients and family members. Nurses are not slaves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Specializes in LTC & Teaching.
I'm STILL not understanding the problem.

The OP answered their own question. The employer is still in compliance with the contract.

"The parties hereto agree that in every instance the employee shall pay a fair price for any meals obtained which shall in no instance be less than the actual cost of furnishing such meals, and the said cost shall be computed by the Corporation. When employees bring their own meal, they shall use the designated dining area for the consumption of same."

This DOES NOT imply or state that employees are to be given a meal. IT says that if they are then the price has to be set at a certain level. Even if the courts decided it implied a lunch for employees NO WHERE does it say it has to be full, hot or the same as everyone else?

It also doesn't say you get a full, hot meal.

I'm not sure what everyone is reading but it is right there in English. Take it to a Attorney. It's no longer a matter of opinion. The company, by the OP's very own words, is NOT obligated to provide anything.

Much less a 'full, hot lunch.'

No clarification is needed. In contract law the contract is king and if the contract states what the OP posted then they are out of luck. In EVERY country. :D

Not necesarily. There's what's called past pracitce and whether or not the employer has set a precedent or not. Past Practice and Precedent in this case is that every employee in the building was entitled to the option of purchasing a full hot meal. Then the employer arbitrarily decided that only the Practical Nurses and the Care Aides were no longer entitled to this option.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Precedent

If a contract stated that employees were granted 4 weeks paid vacation every year and then the employer arbitrarily decided that in 2009 all nurses will only be getting 2 weeks paid vacation, how would the nurses respond? Even though the contract doesn't name each and every employee category, past practice and precedent was that the employer was allowing every employee the option of 4 weeks paid vacation. Using your arguement (which is valid) the employer can say "well we didn't specify in the contract that nurses will be included in the 4 weeks paid vacation." Yes I've seen employers routinely twist various sentences in a collective agreement numerous times to try and get out of what was originally agreed to. This is why there are countless greviences in numerous work settings both in and out side of nursing.

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Specializes in LTC & Teaching.

Decision:

Unfortunately the Union is unwilling to pursue this issue. Their rationale is that there are some staff who don't want the meal times changed. The union is unwilling to push the employer to change things in the dietary department to ensure those who are on the early breaks are able to purchase the full hot meals just like those in the other departments. Eventhough the staff on my unit were fully in favour of changing our break times, the employer has indicated that they will not let one unit change their break times.

My intuition was right in that this union wouldn't pursue the issue based on their lousy track record of not willing to pursue anything. As one union official told me years ago, "we can't damage employer union relations". Essentially that's the attitude of many labour officials in recent years. They forget that they work for and are paid by the members, not the employers. Many officials such as the ones here locally have this mentality that the members are answerable to them when in reality it should be the other way around.

Other issues have arisen since this thread was started that the union is also unwilling to pursue. Essentially my co-workers and I have to make a decision of whether or not to get rid of this union and find another one. Having said that, to get rid of a union is a nightmare and a half, but that's a topic for another thread.

So discrimination against the Practical Nurses and the Aides will be allowed to continue in our facility (which is one of three).

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Specializes in acute care and geriatric.

I am so sorry. Can you ask to be transferred to a sister facility?

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Specializes in LTC & Teaching.
I am so sorry. Can you ask to be transferred to a sister facility?

Yes I can apply for a rotation at a sister facility. However, if I apply at the one near the center of the city it wouldn't work because my wife works at that one. My wife and I agreed a long time ago that we would try not to work in the same facility. The third facility is on the far side of the city and the last time I worked over there it cost me a small fortune in gas.

I believe all the LTC facilities in this city, including the three municipal facilities where I work, have the same labour organization.

I believe the only solution to end the many examples of discrimination, exploitation and violence towards nurses and other healthcare workers in this city is to organize a city wide campaign to first turf this particular union out and find one that has the gutts and leadership to finally say enough is enough.

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