The provincial government is to blame for the recent layoffs at Rouge Valley Centenary Hospital, says the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.

Fourteen positions have been terminated at the hospital, including lab technicians and mental health workers. Nine positions were layoffs, while the remaining five were elimination of vacancies.

This has occurred because the government isn’t giving hospitals a good idea of what their funding is going to be for next year until September , OPSEU spokesperson Rick Janson said. This shortens the length of time for hospitals to make important budgeting decisions, he said.

“Some [hospitals] are trying to avoid risk by carrying out layoffs now,” Janson said. “There haven’t been any other indications at this point in terms of what that funding level could be.”

Hospitals have been told there will be some additional funds next year but now how much.

“There will be an increase in hospital funding,” said Ivan Langrish, press secretary for health minister Deb Matthews. “But it’s a complicated process between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance to maintain quality and operating costs.”

Although these negotiations are ongoing, the parties involved have yet to reach an agreement on hospital funding.

“At this point in time we don’t have budget numbers yet,” Langrish said. “But we have made huge investments since we took office.”

Langrish said in these “challenging economic times” the ministry must consult with hospitals when designing the budget, but OPSEU is left out of the conversation.

The Rouge Valley Medical System originally planned the layoffs in 2008.

There have not been any more layoffs and there are no plans for more layoffs in the future, said David Brazeau, RVMS director of public affairs.

“A little more than three years ago we announced the deficit elimination plan,” Brazeau said. “[The layoffs are] not over and above. It’s completely consistent with what we announced in March 2008.”

The layoffs have not affected services, Brazeau said. “Patient volume has actually increased slightly since the plan began and we’ve maintained all of our services.”

The union has responded to the terminations by appealing for political support across the province.

“We had a meeting with the health minister last week to address some of these issue and we’ve left it with her,” Janson said. “[The minster] suggested that some of these layoffs could actually be rescinded, although it doesn’t look very likely when we look at the nature of a lot of layoffs.”

The union has also been contacting local MPPs.

“We’re hoping that the government will see that it doesn’t make much sense to lay off people while they’re trying to stimulate the economy and create jobs,” Janson said.

It’s official, Ontario college faculty will not strike this semester.  A 51.45 per cent majority ruling was tallied Wednesday afternoon.

Earlier this month, teachers from the province’s 24 colleges voted in favour of continuing the school year without any stoppages.  Wednesday’s count included mail-in ballots that were received this past week.

Of about 9000 faculty members, 4473 voted to accept and 4221 voted to reject the offer, according to the Ontario Labour Relations Board.

Tyler Charlebois, director of advocacy of the College Student Alliance, said most of the terms in the agreement won’t come around until the fall.

“Faculty has received some of the things agreed upon,” Charlebois said.

Members are getting paid at an increase of 1.75 per cent. In the new semester, a modified workload will be formulated.

The final offer accepted by the teachers also includes a 5.9 per cent salary increase over the next three years.

Negotiations between the Ontario Public Service Employees Union and the colleges took over nine months.

According to Charlebois, negotiations take “way too long,” and are postponed until crunch time.

A strike would have delayed hopeful Centennial students from graduating this semester.  They would have had to complete their classes next fall.

“It’s important that students are getting the education they’re paying for in a timely fashion,” said Charlebois.

__________

College Student Alliance news release
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/February2010/24/c4540.html

Ontario Public Service Employees Union release
http://www.opseu.org/news/press2010/feb-24-2010.htm

One arrest has been made in connection with an alleged Scarborough criminal organization that is reported to have collected thousands of dollars by orchestrating car collisions in order to make fraudulent claims.

The organization would recruit people to register cars in their name and stage crashes, filing property damage and personal injury claim, police said.

The scheme was carried out between August and November of 2007 and brought in approximately $300,000 worth of claims, police reported.

Const. Tony Vella said the case was brought to light by police “working closely with the Insurance Bureau of Canada.”

The arrest was made on Feb. 4 after police carried out an investigation.

Maamar Saoulel, 39, is facing 11 charges relating to fraud, activities in a criminal organization and dangerous operation of a vehicle.



The search into Col. Russell Williams past has led to speculation of ties with serial killer Paul Bernardo. While police believe that the connection is coincidental, they are not leaving any Scarborough cold case unexamined.

Williams, a decorated colonel, was recently charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of forcible confinement, two break and enter charges, and two counts of sexual assault.

He attended the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus (UTSC) and graduated in late ’80s with a degree in political science and economics.

This week, any Scarborough cold cases that coincide with Williams’ studies at the campus will be examined.

“Everything’s on the table,” said homicide Det. Doug Sansom. “There’s nothing that is specifically jumping out, but any reasonable cases will be looked at.”

The investigation into Williams’ past has reminded some Scarborough residents of other incidents that occurred when Williams was attending UTSC.

Plagued by a series of murders and rapes, Scarborough was terrorized from 1984 to 1990 by an unknown attacker, nicknamed the “Scarborough Rapist”.

Bernardo, the notorious serial killer and rapist, was apprehended in 1993 and convicted in 1995 for two first-degree murders and two sexual assaults. He is alleged to have committed many more.

Police have said they are re-examining the cases that overlap with when Williams attended UTSC.

The similarities in the studies of the two men have led to speculation.

The Toronto Sun reports through a number of sources that it is possible Williams and Bernardo knew each other.

The police have stated that there is no known connection between the two men.

Bernardo also attended UTSC and graduated in the late 80’s with a degree in commerce and economics.

After graduation, Williams began his 23-year career with the Canadian Forces.

He has been posted in a number of military bases in western, eastern and central Ontario, moving up the ranks until he was promoted colonel in Jan. 2009.

The OPP have begun to examine cold cases in the areas Williams is known to have lived.

In July 2009, Williams became the commanding officer at Canadian Forces Base Trenton. He is also commander of 8 Wing.

Since then, Williams has been interviewed by media for 8 Wing’s involvement in the Haiti relief effort.

Williams will appear in court, over video up-link, on Feb. 18.

Planned layoffs at Scarborough Centenary Hospital could result in longer wait times for patients, warns a hospital employee union.

The Rouge Valley Health System gave notice on Feb. 5 of 14 positions being terminated, as part of a deficit elimination plan introduced two years ago. At Scarborough the cuts include lab technicians, mental health workers and histologists.

The layoffs could mean longer wait times for patients in histology and biopsy results could then take two to three days, which is double what is expected now, said Rick Janson, spokesperson for the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.

“It’s not exactly humane for patients to make them wait that long to find out the results of their tests,” Janson said.

The RVHS denies, however, any suggestion that service is slipping.

“In fact, we’ve improved the quality of our care,” said David Brazeau, RVHS director of public affairs.

In addition, Janson said the elimination of three social workers would cut a third of the social workers department—a substantial loss that would prolong the already four-month waitlist for children and youth mental health.

“When you consider the fight we had over mental health a couple of years ago, it’s surprising that mental health is taking another cut,” Janson said.

Brazeau said it is crucial for the health service to uphold the deficit elimination plan, so the hospital could continue operation.

“As a hospital, we’re not allowed to run in the red,” he said. “Now we’ve gotten our financial ship in order,”

Janson said the health service had promised no services would be cut as long as the hospital received at least one per cent increase in funding this year. The health ministry has not yet announced the exact increase in the hospital’s funding for this year, he said.

“It was a bit of a shock to actually see layoff notices given out,” Janson said. “We thought they would at least wait to see what their funding was going to look like.”

Brazeau said efforts are being made to secure the future of the laid-off workers, including plans for redeployment and early retirement packages for those eligible.

“It may be possible to redeploy enough people so that no one is out of work,” Brazeau said.

Aside from layoffs, the deficit elimination plan included changes in spending on the hospital’s infrastructure.

“We’ve compared ourselves to a lot of other hospitals and said, ‘Oh look, not only are they spending less money, but also getting better results,’ ” Brazeau said. “We saw that we have the talent and the determination to do better.”

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