Gov't interference in contract negotiations

-jt · Jun 19, 2001

Guess how much MANDATORY OT you will have to be working to make up for all that lost MD/hospital income from those cancelled surgeries! when something goes wrong & a pt is harmed, the nurse ends up being sued, fired & having action taken her license. I wonder, besides the one in Massachusetts, have any nurses sued their board of nursing & their employer for putting them in this kind of situation & setting them up for something going wrong in the first place?

fergus51 · Jun 19, 2001

We don't really have mandatory OT, that's what pisses me off about the gov't trying to make us do OT. According to our contract nurses are supposed to do a reasonable amount of OT. Individually we have always been allowed to refuse to work overtime. Once we did it collectively the gov't decided to make collective refusal of OT illegal. I am encouraging nurses to just not answer the phone when the hospital calls.

fergus51 · Jun 19, 2001

We don't really have mandatory OT, that's what pisses me off about the gov't trying to make us do OT. According to our contract nurses are supposed to do a reasonable amount of OT. Individually we have always been allowed to refuse to work overtime. Once we did it collectively the gov't decided to make collective refusal of OT illegal. I am encouraging nurses to just not answer the phone when the hospital calls.

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Jun 19, 2001

New Brunswick is also forbidden to strike, happened in January I think.

NS nurses and unions say they will be walking out on June 27 whether the legislation passes or not. And they have the support of other unionized employees in the province and the Medical Society. They will be facing some heavy fines, but as one letter to the editor said, they can't lock up all 7000 of them.

The problem in Canada as I see it is that the money for hospitals comes from the province, so the government of course is going to do anything it can to prevent having to pay out more money. Essentially the employer can change the laws of the land, especially when things aren't going their way.

Rally and walkout in NS today at 6pm, hope it goes well.

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Jun 19, 2001

New Brunswick is also forbidden to strike, happened in January I think.

NS nurses and unions say they will be walking out on June 27 whether the legislation passes or not. And they have the support of other unionized employees in the province and the Medical Society. They will be facing some heavy fines, but as one letter to the editor said, they can't lock up all 7000 of them.

The problem in Canada as I see it is that the money for hospitals comes from the province, so the government of course is going to do anything it can to prevent having to pay out more money. Essentially the employer can change the laws of the land, especially when things aren't going their way.

Rally and walkout in NS today at 6pm, hope it goes well.

Kare · Jun 19, 2001

The premier of Nova Scotia, John Hamm, a family Dr. x 30 years is now saying he won't pass the law prohibiting any strike action if the unions can get their members to ratify a contract by this Monday. They won't sit @ the table( union + employer ) til Thursday,leaving no time to work out any of the issues. So basically it means accept the contracts you rejected or else...

No wonder when Hamm and his health minister Muir stepped out they were heckled, booed, ignored, then some started to sing "Who let the dogs out? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? " No disrespect intended to our 4 legged friends.

Hamm's heavy hand shows the old " I'm the Dr. and I know what' s best attitude". He needs to wake up and see nurses won't accept mandatory callback...we can't work any harder...my pt. load has doubled in the past 5 years, the pts. are more acute...I'm cut to a 3/5 position and am glad because I don't think I could do full time.... ((

Kare · Jun 19, 2001

The premier of Nova Scotia, John Hamm, a family Dr. x 30 years is now saying he won't pass the law prohibiting any strike action if the unions can get their members to ratify a contract by this Monday. They won't sit @ the table( union + employer ) til Thursday,leaving no time to work out any of the issues. So basically it means accept the contracts you rejected or else...

No wonder when Hamm and his health minister Muir stepped out they were heckled, booed, ignored, then some started to sing "Who let the dogs out? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? " No disrespect intended to our 4 legged friends.

Hamm's heavy hand shows the old " I'm the Dr. and I know what' s best attitude". He needs to wake up and see nurses won't accept mandatory callback...we can't work any harder...my pt. load has doubled in the past 5 years, the pts. are more acute...I'm cut to a 3/5 position and am glad because I don't think I could do full time.... ((

fergus51 · Jun 20, 2001

OK, so it looks like nurses in NS are going to be forbidden to strike (like nurses in Alberta, PEI and Ontario already are). Now the gov't here is targeting nurses also.

We are in the middle of contract negotiations and the gov't has said that we aren't getting a better offer than the one we just voted almost 97% to reject. We haven't been on strike, but we have been refusing to do non-nursing duties (which in my opinion we should be refusing all the time anyways) and refusing to do overtime (over 5000 elective surgeries cancelled in 2 months). The gov't called the legislature back for an emergency session as they want to enforce a "cooling off period" for up to 60 days where we would be forced to end our job action. Is this the action of a democratic governement? How the hell can a gov't mandate me by law to do jobs that AREN"T MINE and come in ON MY DAYS OFF IF I DON"T FEEL LIKE IT?!

I am absolutely furious. If they would offer a decent contract in the first place none of this would've happened. Can you imagine the money they are going to have to payin OT to catch up on all the cancelled sugeries they've caused? I am so frustrated with the stupidity of the people we are negotiating with and the general public who has wavered between being supportive and calling us greedy that I am tempted to return to the US. Granted conditions suck there too, but I can make 20 000$ a year more there.

fergus51 · Jun 20, 2001

OK, so it looks like nurses in NS are going to be forbidden to strike (like nurses in Alberta, PEI and Ontario already are). Now the gov't here is targeting nurses also.

We are in the middle of contract negotiations and the gov't has said that we aren't getting a better offer than the one we just voted almost 97% to reject. We haven't been on strike, but we have been refusing to do non-nursing duties (which in my opinion we should be refusing all the time anyways) and refusing to do overtime (over 5000 elective surgeries cancelled in 2 months). The gov't called the legislature back for an emergency session as they want to enforce a "cooling off period" for up to 60 days where we would be forced to end our job action. Is this the action of a democratic governement? How the hell can a gov't mandate me by law to do jobs that AREN"T MINE and come in ON MY DAYS OFF IF I DON"T FEEL LIKE IT?!

I am absolutely furious. If they would offer a decent contract in the first place none of this would've happened. Can you imagine the money they are going to have to payin OT to catch up on all the cancelled sugeries they've caused? I am so frustrated with the stupidity of the people we are negotiating with and the general public who has wavered between being supportive and calling us greedy that I am tempted to return to the US. Granted conditions suck there too, but I can make 20 000$ a year more there.

fergus51 · Jun 20, 2001

There's a recruiter coming from California tommorow. They're expecting a full house. Nurses are talking about mass resignations. I have no idea what to do anymore. I am not going in for any more overtime. I am not answering the phone when the hospital calls. I am just so sick of this BS.

fergus51 · Jun 20, 2001

There's a recruiter coming from California tommorow. They're expecting a full house. Nurses are talking about mass resignations. I have no idea what to do anymore. I am not going in for any more overtime. I am not answering the phone when the hospital calls. I am just so sick of this BS.