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HOSPITAL EMPLOYEES UNION JOINS NURSES ON THE PICKET LINE

Second union strikes

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at Lions Gate Hospital

A SECOND union is now
officially on strike against
Lions Gate Hospital.

By TIMOTHY RENSHAW

The 29,000-member Hospital
Employees Union (HEU), which
represents approximately 950 LGH
nurses’ aides, laundry and kitchen
workers, orderlies, maintenance
personnel and technicians, struck
LGH Thursday morning.

HEU'’s action follows the June

14 picket line set up around LGH
by B.C. Nurses’ Union (BCNU).

Both the HEU and the Health
Sciences Association of B.C.,
(HSA) which represents 276 LGH
occupationa] therapists,
technologists, social workers and
dietitians, have been honoring the
BCNU picket lines.

LGH was one of the first {2
hospitals hit with BCNU picket
lines, and as of Thursday, was one
of the first B.C. hospitals to go
behind official HEU picket lines.

Last Friday, HEU members at

LGH voted 82.3 per cent in favor
of strike action.

To press time Thursday, HEU
had set up picket lines around 19
B.C. health care facilities.

Because the overall number of
LGH staff deemed essential for the
hospital had been set at the start of
the BCNU strike, LGH president
Robert Smith said staff numbers
would not change appreciably with
the start of HEU strike action.

“So at this point I don’t know
what differences will be made to
hospital services,’’ Smith said.

An estimated 20 per cent of
LGH’s HEU and HSA workers
have been designated essential
compared with approximately 75
per cent of the hospital’s 700
hurses.

As of Thursday, LGH had clos-
ed approximately 200 of its 420
acute care beds. All but essential
and emergency services at the hos-
pital have been cancelled since the
start of the BCNU strike.

Major issues in the HEU dispute
include wages and workload.

The HEU is seeking $1.50 per-

hour wage increases in each year of
a two-year deal on an average $12
per-hour wage.

The last offer from the Health
Labor Relations Association
(HLRA) included wage increases
of 5.5 per cent, 5.0 per cent and
5.5 per cent over three years, or
just over $2 per hour.

Negotiations between the HEU
and the HLRA are scheduled to
resume Monday.

The #iSA has a tentative agree-
ment with HLRA, but its wages
are tied to any BCNU settlement.