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PROVINCIAL UPDATE
January 2011 Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE

Memorial Hospital site will stay open longer as Sudbury ghts back
Plans to close 120 beds at the Memorial site of Sudbury Regional Hospital have been shelved at least for a while. 75 beds will remain open for at least an extra 3 months. Layoff notices have been withdrawn. This follows a demonstration outside the ofce of MPP Rick Bartolucci in December held by Local 1623 to urge him to stop the closure of Memorial Hospital site. A public meeting, co-sponsored with the Ontario Health Coalition is scheduled for February to press for 55 more beds at Memorial. Thousands of postcards have been signed and sent to the provincial government. Local President Dave Shelefontiuk says that the province says it has a plan to place the patients at Memorial, but this will mean bumping people who have been waiting for beds at other facilities. Sudbury Regional Hospital doesnt have enough beds- patients are sleeping in closets or being shipped to Blind River or Thessalon. We will ght to keep this site open with everything we have.

Patients are sleeping in closets or being shipped out to Blind River or Thessalon.

1,000 out to protest cuts at Providence Centre November 26

Trades Teleconference Call: January 31 7:00 p.m. 877-250-4348 Access Code 5142734#

Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE 205 Richmond Street West Suite 502 Toronto M5V 1V3

PROVINCIAL UPDATE!

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Local 1974 food campaign committee

L. 1999 newsletter workshop

LOCAL 1974 FIGHTS CONTRACTINGOUT OF FOOD SERVICES

CUPE local 1974 and the National Farmers Union held a town hall meeting with Council of Canadians C h a i r p e r s o n M a u d e B a rl ow i n December to protest the contractingout of food services to Compass. Kingston City Council has voted against the deal. There have been 2 demonstrations held to protest the contracting-out. L. 1974 President Louis Rodrigues says we are planning a protest January 24, a town hall meeting February 10 and an activists lunch March 7 with CUPE President Paul Moist. Its great that the next OCHU provincial demonstration will be held in Kingston March 28. Kingston Labour Council has made the theme of next Labour Day our ght. I know that if we keep it up we can win this.

LOCAL 7800 FIGHTS ABSENTEEISM PROGRAM

Hamilton Health Sciences Centre has announced it will be working to cut $3,000,000 from sick leave payments from its workforce in the rst 3 months of 2011. Dave Murphy, who represents 3,600 HHS workers as president of CUPE Local 7800, said years of budget cuts have put increased pressure on staff and l i k e l y c o n t r i bu t e d t o i n c re a s e d absenteeism. "People are working themselves sick," he said. "It's getting worse as time goes by. It's taken its toll." HHS would be wise to identify the root causes of absenteeism, said Murphy, who suspects it's linked to the province forcing hospitals to shrink resources. "You can't x one without xing the other."

A provincial demonstration will take place in Kingston March 28 at noon to support Local 1974s ght to stop the contractingout of food services

Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE 205 Richmond Street West Suite 502 Toronto M5V 1V3