How many CUPE members and SEIU members are eligible to vote?

I ran a quick google search to see if I could find some more impartial background, but the best I could find is this five month old article from the St. Catherines Standard.

quote:

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Labour threat looms for hospital swap

By Peter Downs

Thursday, March 03, 2005 - 01:00

Local News - A potential labour relations battle is brewing over the swap of roles and properties between the Niagara Health System and Hotel Dieu Health Sciences Hospital.

The union representing NHS support staff at Shaver Hospital and Niagara Rehab is threatening to fight plans to switch their employer to the Hotel Dieu.

“In my opinion, it’s putting the whole issue of the transfer of services and programs between the NHS and Hotel Dieu in jeopardy,” said Marty Parker, union representative with the Service Employees International Union, representing approximately 1,900 NHS clerical and support workers.

The NHS and Hotel Dieu announced Wednesday their intended role change will be delayed by more than four months to Aug. 8 to honour legal and contractual obligations to employees.

Last November, the two hospital corporations struck a new restructuring agreement and abandoned plans to be partners in a $280-million hospital complex slated for west St. Catharines.

The new agreement gives the NHS sole governance of the planned facility, which would replace St. Catharines General Hospital and include a regional cancer centre.

Under the plan, the NHS will take over all of Hotel Dieu’s programs and its Ontario Street assets and absorb its debt.

In return, the Dieu is to assume ownership and operation of Shaver Hospital — a chronic-care facility — and the adjacent Niagara Rehab site in south St. Catharines.

The NHS and the Dieu had initially been asked by the Ministry of Health to set April 1 as a target date to take on their new governance roles.

But because unionized employees working for both organizations require five months’ notice of transfer, the swap date had to be postponed.

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Anyone have more current info?

[ 04 August 2005: Message edited by: robbie_dee ]

quote:

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SEIU WILL PROTECT MEMBERS' JOBS AT NHS
(St. Catharines, March 14, 2005)

The swap of properties and services between the Niagara Health System and Hotel Dieu Hospital scheduled to be completed on August 8, is causing our members much anguish and apprehension about the possible impact on their jobs," said Marty Parker, union representative for the 2,300 NHS employees who are members of the Service Employees International Union Local 1.on.

Because the NHS wants to transfer ownership and operation of the Shaver and Niagara Rehabilitation Centre to the Hotel Dieu Hospital, the union representing workers at Hotel Dieu thinks that Hotel Dieu employees have an automatic right to take jobs away from SEIU Local 1.on members already working at these sites.

"Steve Palmer, President of the CUPE local at Hotel Dieu has been quoted as saying everyone of his members at Hotel Dieu will be given a job at Shaver and the Niagara Rehab," said Parker.

"This just can't happen. SEIU Local 1.on represents employees at the Shaver and the Niagara Rehab Site and these jobs belong to them. There can be no displacement of these workers," Parker said.

"Steve Palmer is doing a great disservice to these members by claiming they will all have jobs. He should be forth right and explain to them what their real legal rights are in this situation," Parker said.

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Click here to read the rest.

Since the SEIU local does not appear to have anything up on their website about this disupte with CUPE dated any later than March 14, I am guessing perhaps they are not overly worried about losing the representation vote.

There was one later press release from July 11, titled: "NHS Priorities All Wrong." It appears to address a threat by NHS to reduce hospital beds, but makes no reference to CUPE or any representation vote.

The way I read the situation, it looks like CUPE Local 1097 is pulling out all the stops to try and win representation rights at NHS, but since they are outnumbered 10 to 1 going in, they will probably lose unless a lot of SEIU members are seriously unhappy with their current union. There are some strong accusations on the website CUPE Reformer linked above, but since this is an election campaign, you obviously have to take what both sides say with a few grains of salt.

I'd be interested in hearing from anyone with more info, though.

[ 05 August 2005: Message edited by: robbie_dee ]

Welland Tribune

[ 09 August 2005: Message edited by: robbie_dee ]

CUPE Local 1097

[ 12 August 2005: Message edited by: CUPE_Reformer ]