Nearly half of hospital staff are being assaulted, CUPE says
Contract negotiations between Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) abruptly broke down today following the hospitals' refusal to address the issue of workplace violence, the labour union said.
Although other sectors have seen decreases in workplace violence, incidents in health care are rising in Ontario. Nearly half of direct care hospital staff report being assaulted by patients or patients' family members each year. It is widely acknowledged that incidents of workplace violence are under-reported because of fear of employer reprisal which hinders health-care staff from reporting violent incidents, CUPE said.
In addition to protection from reprisal for speaking out, improving health and safety measures such as providing personal alarms for all staff, enhancing internal systems to flag violent patients and increasing staffing levels in emergency departments and psychiatric units where staff are vulnerable to assault is a key priority in this round of provincial bargaining for 27,000 Ontario hospital staff, including nurses, cleaners and dietary, administrative and trades staff at 120 hospital sites in communities across Ontario represented by CUPE.
CUPE's Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE) and the OHA have been in bargaining since June for a renewal collective agreement.
"Ontario hospital staff, including those that we represent, are the most productive in Canada. While we have modest economic expectations, we did expect that the hospitals would address the problem of violence in our workplaces. Unfortunately, despite widespread evidence of an epidemic of violent assaults against health care staff, Ontario's hospitals have little interest in bargaining constructive measures to reduce and prevent workplace violence," said OCHU president Michael Hurley. "What we are proposing, in collective bargaining would protect both staff and patients. However the hospitals have refused to engage in meaningful dialogue of this very important issue."
OHA said the health and safety of hospital employees has been, and will continue to be, a priority for the association and its member hospitals.
"While we know that the work performed by health-care providers is often challenging and demanding, acts of violence are never accepted as something that staff members should expect to face within the workplace," the OHA said in a statement.
Increasing staffing in areas where violence is prevalent (like psychiatry and the emergency departments), providing alarms, counselling and other supports to workers who are the victims of violence; creating adequate reporting between the Crown, police, corrections, other health care institutions and hospitals to identify potentially violent patients are among of the proposals put forth by OCHU/CUPE that "regrettably this far have been completely rejected by the hospitals."
But the OHA said it takes the concerns brought forward "very seriously" and will continue to work with the provincial government, organizations and other stakeholders to ensure hospitals are safe. The OHA and hospital sector representatives are a part of the workplace violence in health care leadership table established by the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.
Last May, CUPE and UNIFOR nurses appealed to Premier Kathleen and Ontario MPPs to help with the systemic and widespread problem of violence against health-care staff, the vast majority of whom are women.
"Many hospital staff have been beaten so badly they will never work again. We are incredibly disheartened that the hospitals are refusing to address this huge problem in collective bargaining," said OCHU secretary-treasurer Sharon Richer.
