Workers at St. Joseph's Hospice Sarnia-Lambton braved freezing rain, snow, and bitterly cold wind as they demonstrated along Christina Street Monday afternoon.
The group, represented by OPSEU [Ontario Public Service Employees Union], has been bargaining for and without a contract for more than a year and a half.
Bargaining Team Member and Union Steward Carrie Clements was one of about 30 people carrying signs saying, "Hospice - It's more than just a job. It's a calling." and "Permanent staff matters. Stop agency dependency."
She's a personal support worker (PSW) at the site and told Sarnia News Today they've been without a contract for 646 days.
"Recently, St. Joseph's Hospice has hired agency nursing," said Clements. "We have a couple of lines [made up of] a full-time person and a part-time person when we're scheduled to work. We have a couple of lines that are empty, so staff retention means a lot to us. We've had some meetings with management and they haven't gone so well. They don't seem to plan to fill those lines."
While securing a new contract is important, Clements said retention of staff -- especially those who are qualified -- is their number one priority.
"We've had 56 staff members leave in four years," she said. "Currently, right now, the residence runs with 23 staff members. That's nurses, PSWs, and housekeeping. We're just hoping that the right people hear the right things and put some pressure on our board to do exit interviews and take that data and do something positive with it."
Registered nurse Chantal Morley said the contract has never been about money, calling it a "byproduct of bigger issues."
"Hospice palliative care is a specialty and it's slowly getting to the point where we're losing that," said Morley. "Nurses that are coming in to replace our jobs, it's not cost effective. It's very expensive to do agency nurses, and these nurses do not have the same qualifications as us palliatively-trained professionals."
Morley said continuity of care is important because hospice is a specialty that's not for everybody.
"We are invited into people's lives at a very delicate time, and that friendly face can make all the difference," said Morley. "There's also very quick changes that we can see. One [is] symptom management, and all of these things are things that we have access to, and we can provide right away. But, there is that training component behind it with the medications and the care that we give. We want to retain that with the staff we have right now."
Morley said most long term employees have a passion to be there and love the work they do.
Another information rally is planned in front of the site at 475 Christina Street North on Thursday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
- with files from Josh Boyce
