This letter from the Family Health doctors is only one side of the story. The ex staff have another side to tell. The truth may be somewhere in the middle.
People are complaining that they do not like the new system and others say they do. The thing is, not everyone finds this letter totally believable. Here is a bit of our story.
The owners asked for the escalation on the picket line by ignoring the staff on the line and leaving us out there for so long. If they planned to let us all go they should have said so before July and certainly before August/September when we had no choice but to stop cars and make things miserable for everyone. I am sincerely sorry.
The picketers were originally a small group of kind caring staff that loved their work, patients and yes, the physicians we worked for. Things changed over the 7 years we were in the new building. We were no longer asked our opinions or ideas. We began to be dictated to, and our concerns fell on seemingly deaf, uncaring ears. We brought in the union, feeling perhaps we might have a voice through them. It is unfortunate that this did not happen and the atmosphere continued to deteriorate.
Over the next while we began to have staff leave: some left because they were no longer happy , some left because they were bullied, some were asked to leave. Before the strike began, I believe over 70 staff had left since the initial move to the new building. Imagine what it was like to see people you had grown to love and care about leave crying almost weekly for one reason or another.The first contract did not have a pay grid. We were told at the negotiations for that contract verbally that nothing would change, and it was unfortunate that the union believed this to be true. The verbal agreements did not make it to the new contract so there were never going to be any raises ever. We felt we had to make a stand at this negotiation for a pay grid and an inflationary raise, and we stood our ground from May to September getting nowhere.
They did come back to the table and offered 1% for each year of a 3 year contract but still no grid. and That did not cover the inflation rate as we were already 4 years without any raise. Some staff were still at their probationary wage after 4 years, so we turned this offer down.The next negotiation that I was made aware of was in July when they announced that the nurses would not be returning and they were starting fresh with other staff that would be more suitable for their needs. We and the clerical staff were offered nothing more than a severance package at the end of the negotiation. That stopped the negotiation cold and we returned to the picket line. We were quite demoralized by this news and many then quit to find other jobs.
Our numbers were quite low and our spirits too.OPSEU decided we needed help so they asked other members from Owen Sound and across the province to join us to help. They wanted our line strong and asked us to begin to hold people up for one minute, giving them a flyer and an opportunity to ask questions. Many many people had no issues and simply did what we expected, telling us they supported us and went on their way peacefully. Others had their backs up and refused to stop or even talk to us. They actually started hitting us with their cars. This was very shocking to me.
We were eventually being heard and the few of us left got an enhanced exit package and salary for September and a month of benefits to go away.
This is not what we wanted and for those of you upset that you no longer have nurses or your favourite receptionist we are sorry but ....Thank you to all of our supporters in the public sector, the OPSEU members who came to help, the Muffin Man, the reporters that reported truthfully (Anne and David) . The people that brought baking, Tim bits,coffee food and drinks and supported our BBQ's, Those who came to ask us what was going on and offered help and picked up a sign and walked with us and countless kind donations of coffee money. We thank you ALL so very very much.