HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 2014-01-08, Page 66 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Troy Patterson Lucknow Sentinel
Chilly shinny fun!
Point Clark's Ice Rink was in great shape for skating and shinny hockey on Jan. 3, 1013, prior to the
blizzard that swamped the region and closed schools and many businesses on Jan. 6. L -R: Point Clark
shinny players Kalin Kerr, 16 and Kyler Twolan, 16 fight for possession of the puck from Jordan Bell, 17,
in the crisp frigid weather Friday.
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PSW strike ends with
contact agreement
Denis Langlois
QM' Agency
Local personal support workers
with Red Cross Care Partners were
greeted with hugs, tears and sighs of
relief when they returned to client
homes over the weekend following a
two-week province -wide strike.
"They were very glad to see us,"
Claire Dahms, local chief steward
with the Service Employees Interna-
tional Union (SEIU), said Saturday in
an interview.
"Some of our clients had nobody."
The strike, which began Dec. 11,
came to a grinding halt on Christmas
Eve when the union announced it
had agreed with the employer to
enter into interest arbitration, which
allows an independent adjudicator to
resolve outstanding contract issues.
The PSWs returned to work Friday.
Members of the SEIU negotiating
committee, including Dahms, and
officials with the for-profit Red Cross
Care Partners are scheduled to meet
with the arbitrator Jan. 3 in Toronto.
Dahms said the local PSWs are
"very optimistic" that the interest
arbitration process will result in a
"living wage" for the workers.
About 4,500 PSWs across Ontario,
including 124 in Grey -Bruce, had
been out on the picket lines after a
tentative agreement between the
SEIU and Red Cross Care Partners
was rejected by union members Dec.
2.
The union and employer have been
at an impasse over monetary issues,
including wages and compensation
for travelling between clients.
The PSWs now make $13.64 to
$15.02 per hour. Most work part-time
hours.
SEIU Healthcare president Shar-
leen Stewart said homecare PSWs
should be compensated at a level
similar to their colleagues working in
nursing homes and hospitals.
"We hope the arbitrator will come
up with a contract favourable to the
hardworking caregivers that are on
front lines of the healthcare system,"
she said in a statement.
Dahms, a PSW for 24 years, said the
news delivered to the striking work-
ers Christmas Eve "couldn't have
been any better." The PSWs were
grateful to return to work, she said.
Dahms said she agrees with the
union that homecare PSWs should be
declared "essential workers," which
would ban future strikes and trigger a
binding arbitration hearing if the
employees and employer fail to reach
a collective agreement. Police offic-
ers, nurses and even transit workers
in Toronto are considered essential
workers.
Dahms said for many clients, the
only healthcare workers that visit
their homes and assist with their
homecare are PSWs.
"There's many many cases that
we're it. There are many cases where
we're the only contact they have with
the outside world," she said.
PSWs assist clients with a variety of
tasks including bathing, changing
clothing and dressings, personal care,
moving from wheelchairs to beds and
eating. They also perform light house-
keeping duties.
A Red Cross Care Partners spokes-
woman said clients with the most
urgent needs were still seen during
the strike as could be arranged by
Community Care Access Centre staff.
Dahms said she is thankful to the
community, including the workers'
clients, for supporting the PSWs
throughout the strike.
The strike brought the local PSWs
together and many of the workers
formed a lifelong bond, she said.
"It really brought everybody close."
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