The first thing I want to say is that I value the work that all healthcare workers provide. Without assistance, there are many who live in Artspace Co-op who would have to be in some sort of long-term care facility. So thank you for the work you do.
The second thing I want to say is I believe all healthcare workers should be paid much more and have benefits and retirement plans in place. The reality, however, is far from what we all would like it to be.
When you all walked off the job on May 7, 2014, your union sent letters to EVERY SINGLE HOUSEHOLD in this Co-op. In it they “encouraged” us to ask the “hard” questions of the SAIL Board as to where they had the money to pay replacement staff and hire security; why there were 7 years’ worth of missing audits, and why couldn’t they pay SAIL staff more than $19.50/hr. Basically, they were asking us to
THINK FOR OURSELVES! So I did ask those question, and I received more than satisfactory answers. I
won’t be sharing those answers with you because I think YOU should be thinking for yourselves, also. (And by the way, I asked the same questions more than once and the answers were always the same.)
I also went farther than the union suggested and I did some of my own research into the differences/similarities of healthcare aides who work in clients’ homes versus SAIL workers working in a single apartment building as you were. In general, what I found was that your wage of $19.50/hr was the highest wage I could find among any of the healthcare workers doing anywhere near the type of work and workload as you. In fact, the average was around $15/hr, and those workers have a heavier workload with very little “down time”. In fact, if they had any down time, it was spent driving from one client’s home to the next, IN their own vehicles, with little to no compensation for gas or wear and tear on their vehicles.
I couldn’t find anything about benefits, but I know the Board (and myself) all agree that you should have them. After all, there’s always a chance of injury, even in an 8 hour shift with 4 to 5 hours of scheduled care, although some of that care is homemaking, laundry, feeding a client and meal preparation—a far cry from what one worker complained as "a lot of transferring and heavy lifting aaaalll day long."
Believe or not, I’ve tried really hard to understand your position, but I just can’t get it! How many people would love to have a position in which they work 4 to 5 hours of scheduled care time and have 3 to 4 hours of down time where they are paid to be “on call”? I think you had a good thing going, but now you have blown it.
Now you are choosing to believe whatever your union tells you, but I don’t believe for one second that they are concerned for your welfare. I’ll probably say this more than once: You need to start THINKING FOR YOURSELVES instead of letting the union do it for you. Ask them all the hard questions. Questions like:
1. Why did the mediator look at only unionized collective agreements when making his recommendations—agreements that look only at healthcare workers who work in institutions and are run off their feet their entire shift? Naturally, they should be paid more. Why didn’t the mediator look at other private homecare providers who have similar job descriptions as yours?
2. “Hey hey! Ho ho! Where did all the money go?” Why does the union refuse to accept SAIL’s financials that are transparent and signed off by a certified accountant. Why did the union negotiator dismiss the financial statement without even looking at it? Why didn’t you, the workers, meet with the SAIL Board and let them explain it to you? I know they wanted to. Could it be that the union doesn’t want you to know the truth?
3. How are they looking out for you when, if SAIL is forced to pay you more than Alberta Health gives them, this small not-for profit company will go bankrupt and there will be NO JOB for you to come to?
4. How are they looking out for you when they suggest to the SAIL Board to pay you top dollar for the scheduled care hours and minimum wage for the rest? By the way, the Board was too decent to even seriously consider this.
5. How is the union looking out for you when it’s willing to sacrifice your job and the SAIL Homecare model just so they can save face? Those are just some of the questions I think you should be asking the union. Maybe you have some yourselves, unless you’re not willing to think for yourselves.
I want to put aside wages, benefits, etc. for a moment and talk about BEHAVIOUR!
Do you really think your actions on the picket line are acceptable? I can’t begin to express how deeply disappointed I am to know that about a third of the workers are either participating in or condoning the abusive behaviour we have been forced to endure for the last 3 months. Do you think all your yelling, name calling and vehicle blockading will get you anywhere? When was the last time you saw a school yard bully get what he wanted by beating up on others? For people to claim that we have human rights because of the union, it’s beyond me as to why they can’t respect MY right to a safe and quiet neighbourhood.
And speaking of rights: I have the right to decide who I allow into my PRIVATE home, as do other User-
Members of SAIL. You can be sure that, I personally, will not be allowing any of the workers who have been on the picket line back in my home. Whatever trust and respect I once had for you is GONE!
You say you want to come back because you care for your clients. If you truly care for us, the best thing
you could do is quit SAIL and find work elsewhere. The longer this dispute continues the greater the risk
that “your clients” will lose their self-directed, independent model of homecare for which they fought so hard to get to begin with. (And there are more employment opportunities out there for you than there are in-house consumer driven models of homecare for us.)
Sincerely,
A Proud SAIL User-Member
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