Short staffing/hiring freeze at AHS affecting morale?

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Just wondering if anyone else employed by AHS is noticing the poor morale lately? Every single shift I head in for lately has been miserable. Staff are all miserable from constantly working short. We run out butts off and miss breaks but nobody seems to notice or care. No thanks for all our hard work. All we get are more demands to get more done with fewer staff. Concerns of patient safety go unheard. Claims put in for untaken breaks due to short staffing are questioned and frowned upon. I don't know how much more work they can pile on. I don't know how much more we can all take!!

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Two words. Grieve everything.

Stick to the contract and when they screw us, grieve it.

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Two words. Grieve everything.

Stick to the contract and when they screw us, grieve it.

I've been thinking of that but the union presence is very poor on my unit. Nobody even knows who the rep is or how to go about filing a grievance. I guess I will have to look into it more and then pass the word along. However the other problem is the majority if my unit consists of very new grads or IEN's who are very intimidated by the unit or standing up for their rights.

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There is usually a board somewhere in the hospital that lists all the stewards. You don't have to deal with the steward on your unit. Many units don't have designated stewards at all. You can even call AUPE's office in Calgary and ask for who the office rep who handles your workplace. So you have someone who is responsible for you but not on site.

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Specializes in geriatrics.

Yes morale has been affected, but morale was low before the budget cuts. I also know of people who are regularly filing PRC forms with UNA and nothing has happened.

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Joanna, I'm thinking actual grievances not PRC/EMACs.

Grieve the denied OT and payment for missed breaks.

Grieve the unfair distribution of surplus shifts. I've heard of areas where casuals have been completely eliminated and others where the casuals are picking up all the extra shifts, leaving partimers with no extra shifts, resulting in casuals getting almost full time (.7 and above) hours while part timers are being left with only their .FTEs in hours.

We pay our unions to represent us. We might as well make them work for it.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

Morale on my unit has been lower than a snake's belly at the bottom of a ditch for a LONG time. We've been short-staffed, undersupplied, overworked and disrespected for years. We have people who have never had a vacation day request approved since they started on the unit 8+ years ago. No one gets their stats. Our turnover is approaching 30% per year. I can't imagine how it could get any worse.

As Fiona59 says, your union's provincial office can tell you who the labour relations advisor for your facility is and put you in touch. Remember, if it's not documented it didn't happen. So start writing things down. Keep copies of everything. When you get back your missed break/end-of-shift-OT forms back with the big red DENIED on it, make a copy and forward it to your local. I don't think there will be any relief but it'll make you feel like you're doing something and not just sitting there and letting it go on.

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My logic is our Managers have to report to somebody.

Like you said Jan, if there is no paper trail it never, ever happened.

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Yeah may be time to start looking at getting the union involved. I will definitely look into that.. Just wish more people on my unit would be willing to do something about it rather than just sit around complaining amongst themselves. A lot of people I work with wont even fill out the OT forms when they miss a break or stay late because they are afraid it will make them look bad.

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Does anyone know about cbi as a company..? Just wondering if they are a reputable place to work for...

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Does anyone know about cbi as a company..? Just wondering if they are a reputable place to work for...

Never heard of them. Don't know how they relate to AHS, I mean I don't think they fall under the umbrella like Capital Care or Caritas does.

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Specializes in MPH Student Fall/14, Emergency, Research.
Does anyone know about cbi as a company..? Just wondering if they are a reputable place to work for...

You will likely get more answers by making a new thread, so more people can see your question.

I don't know anything about CBI. This is a big forum, try to avoid acronyms!

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