The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

THE HERALD Wednesday February 1 1189 Page 3 Without a contract for over a year Hospital workers await arbitration decision By BRIAN MacLEOD Herald Staff Over registered nursing assistants orderlies dieticians and housekeeping staff at Georgetown and District Memorial Hospital are anxiously awaiting a new contract A provinciaily appointed arbitra tion board has been studying the issue since June and the long wait has affected morale at the hospital says Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 145 presi dent George Storm The 56 fulltime members and 60 parttime CUPE members at the Georgetown hospital have been without a contract since September The arbitration boards decision will affect more than CUPE members in hospitals throughout the province said CUPE national representative Gordon Allan in Georgetown the contract dispute coupled with the possibili ty of phasing out the hospitals one parttime and two fulltime orderlies have lowered morale said Mr Storm All the union people who are the backbone of the hospital havent had a raise in two years said Mr Storm Union members want the hospital not to phase out orderlies but they also want the hospital to make repairs to the building which Mr Storm says is falling apart Housekeeping staff dieticians and laundry cleaning staff make approximately an hour now said Mr Allan Nursing assistants make slightly more and registered nursing assistants along with are paid just over 11 an hour he said He could not give exact details of the unions argument before the arbitration board but Mr Allan said CUPE is asking for a wage in crease of at least the rate of infla tion The hospital support staff is for bidden to strike by the province Morale at Georgetown hospital began to decline during the con troversy surrounding the hospitals decision to withdraw the hospital privileges of Dr Jack Ford according to Mr Storm Laura Pickett and Local vicepresident Pauline In April 1987 the Georgetown Hospital Board withdrew the popular gynecologist and obstetri cians hospital privileges An On tario Hospital Appeals Board sup ported that decision following a hearing which ended early lost year The three say many workers at the hospital are working long hours due to understaffing Orderlies wont easily be replac ed by male and the mechanized lifts designed to make it easier for nurses to move pa tients have limitations they say And the hospital hasnt got many applications for male said Ms Male orderlies can do much of the heavy work such as lengthy applications of cardiopulmonary resuscitation lifting patients help ing to shower patients and they even help in autopsies said Mr Storm And the long shifts members must put in at the hospital in which people work seven days in a row with three days off followed putting money Into much needed equipment directly related to pa tient care The hospital is hiring five people including a nurse and a security guard said Mr Rochon Funding approval for the five positions came through from the Ministry of Health in December be said Mr Rochon acknowledged the hospital has leaks in the roof old carpets and needs painting but the by another seven days work witfN administration has been directing two days off puts additional strain on the workers said Ms Himeshazi Hospital Executive Director Mark Rochon said no decision has been made about phasing out orderlies and the hospital has been its money about in the last two years towards new equip ment he said The hospital has requested a new roof from the he said Georgetown is the only hospital in the area which still has male orderlies said Mr And the security guard is needed to make rounds and perform security functions after hours when there is no security presence in the hospital he said Mr agreed that morale could be affected by the lengthy time union members have gone without a contract But the hospital doesnt seem to be having any problem recruiting compared to other Toronto area hospitals said Mr He said there have been no staff cuts in the hospital in recent years and the five new people will not take up administrative positions at the hospital Five new positions to be filled Georgetown and District Memorial Hospital recently received permission from the Ministry of Health to hire five people to fill new positions ac cording to Executive Director Mark Rochon All the positions are directly related to patient care he said Although the hospital has iden tified a need for a total of 18 new people the five people which are in the process of being hired are a priority said Mr Rochon Among the five new people to be hired are a pharmacy technician to help improve the distribution of phar maceuticals in the hospital a quality assurance person who makes sure hospital pro grams meet standards and to help educate and update staff on new techniques an infection control person who will help in cases of people with highly infectious diseases such as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome AIDS and hepatitis That person will also be responsi ble for staff health said Mr Rochon a security guard to make sure the hospital is safe after business hours and an extra nurse In the emergency room to work even ings and weekends New equipment totals 365000 Region tax hike Continued from Page said Regional treasurer Joe On top of that had assumed a five per cent assess ment growth as a conservative estimate That prediction proved to be accurate so the tax base wasnt expanded as much as finan cial planners hoped The budget also allows for an in crease of almost per cent in the police budget but Haltons board of police commissioners are reported to be considering an even higher increase said Mr But its Haltons 16 million solid waste disposal budget which has hiked the taxbill significantly Halton is paying 56 per cent more this year to dispose of its garbage mainly by sending it to Niagara Fails New York for incineration Haltons garbage disposal costs are expected to remain high until a new landfill is opened sometime in the early 1990s Halton managed to keep the budget increase down to about seven per cent by cutting out some capital projects and transferring funds from its reserves said Mr And the extensive road maintenance program will be restricted to just a in crease in the budget he said Mr Rinaldo blamed the province for part of the increase The effect of increasing proper ty taxes will place a greater burden on the lower income sector whereas increasing provincial tax rates would impose burden on mid dle or higher income sectors said Mr The Georgetown and District Memorial Hospital has purchas ed more than 365000 worth of new equipment in the last two years said Executive Director Mark The hospital has put all the money it could find into purchas ing the new equipment he said acknowledging that structural repairs need to be made to the hospital The Georgetown hospital was built in 1961 In 1972 an addition with the administration offices was built Some of the new equipment in cludes a fluoroscopy retrofit for set ting bones 47000 a new operating table 40000 retrofitting the sterilizer 37000 energy saving equipment was installed on the flues a new mobile Xray machine 42000 a new fetal monitor a new incubator 11000 unit two patient lifts an electric cautery 10000 a new blood bank refrigerator a new birthing bed for obstetrics and a new electrocardiogram machine Good service good coverage good price- Thats State Farm insurance ROBERT TAIT INS LTD 174QulphSI Gorgatown 8731833 Like a good neighbor Slate Farm is there STATI FARM INSURANCE Industrial Growth Fund When it comes to RRSP investing one word says it all Results There are man to invest dollars And each RRSP alternative claims the best for one reason or another But none of these claims hold water unless one thing is there to back them up a record of performance There are many things we could sa to attempt to establish the credentials of The Industrial Group of Funds that we manage more than billion for more than Canadian investors that we pursue growth but never at the expense of consistency and that our record of anticipating developments in the market has been excellent But hard numbers count And urge to make your RRSP decision on the strength of comparison of results yr Industrial Growth Fund 5 I 162 For more information on this and other exceptional investments contact me Today DOMINION SECURITIES John Brown RBC Dominion Securities Queen Suite Brampton IA9 Bus The Industrial Group of Funds Mackenzie Financial Corporation both To manage for growth and income All figures to December 1988 are at erase annual compound returns based on the net income invested and including reinvestment of dividends Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results Any offers made only by prospectus winch contains complete details ofall charges Please read it before making a purchase and retain it for future reference