[UPDATED] Daily-paid NWRHA workers walk off job

Daily-rated workers from facilities run by the North West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA) walked off the job on Thursday, citing a list of grievances, the foremost of which was failure to pay overtime to shift workers scheduled on weekends.

Speaking to workers and media at the National Union of Government and Federated Workers (NUGFW) Hall on Henry Street, president general James Lambert said the issue that broke the camel’s back was the roster for overtime at St Ann’s Hospital.

“Over the years, they have been working the workers flat time on Saturdays and Sundays, and indicating compensatory time off.

"The union has stopped compensatory time off. There is nothing in the collective agreement that says you work a worker outside of the 40-hour week and then you give them compensatory time off.

"We are aware as a union, that since 2009/2010, because you can’t leave sick people unattended in a hospital, workers have to work Saturdays and Sundays, so they are considered shift workers."

He said the authority has been paying a shift premium and workers were receiving $9 an hour, but were being given time off on Saturdays and Sundays.

“When you are a shift worker, the policy in TT is quite clear: you cannot work daily-rated workers four Saturdays and four Sundays in the month. You make a seven-day roster in which two days in the week would be time off if you didn’t work Saturday and Sunday. If you have worked right through, Saturday and Sunday must be overtime.

"What the management has been doing, is giving time off on Saturday and Sunday.

“For the seven-day roster that has been made, you must have at least two days off, because the Industrial Relations Act provides it is a 40-hour week, and when you work shift workers Saturday and Sunday, it alternates. There is a Saturday and Sunday that must be considered a regular and ordinary working day, and the following Saturday and Sunday must be considered overtime. So you work two Saturdays and two Sundays in the month as regular days, and the rest must be considered overtime.”

Lambert said he met with the CEO and it was agreed that the roster would be scheduled in that manner, but when the roster was released on Thursday, the agreement was not taken into account, causing workers to walk off the job.

The workers were from the kitchen, laundry, environmental, and engineering sections of the St Ann’s Hospital, the PoS General Hospital, Mt Hope (where the laundry department for the NWRHA was located), and the St James Medical Complex.

Lambert claimed the workers had made sure to carry out their assigned tasks before leaving their facilities so no patients had been neglected.

Lambert also accused the NWRHA’s management of delaying the negotiation process for daily paid workers, as the authority was responsible for co-ordinating the other RHA’s to come to the negotiation table.

He said meal allowance remained the same since 2013. He said there had been no increase in benefits in the NWRHA, unlike the other RHAs.

“We have something called UniMed insurance, where central and local government and the THA would have updated all the present benefits, but NWRHA remains the same. We have written to them, held meetings, nothing is happening on behalf of the workers.”

Lambert said daily rated workers still didn’t have a pension plan, despite the Finance Minister having promised that three budget presentations ago.

He said the laundry department, which had been moved to Mt Hope, had been having to use fans to clear fumes from the premises so that workers would not be affected.

Lambert said the permanent establishment for the workers at St Ann’s and St James had yet to be signed. He said because the grievance codes and disciplinary procedures had been included in the local government reform legislation, these were no longer negotiable.

One worker from St Ann’s Hospital said he had been working there for 19 years and had never been given time off for working on a weekend. He said he had always been given a day off so hearing he should be getting overtime was news to him.

Nolan Scott from the PoSGH environmental department said their working conditions were abysmal. He said when work began on the new Central Block, they had been moved to another building which was not fit for purpose, without proper facilities to change clothes. He said they also did not receive enough supplies and personnel protective equipment to carry out their duties. He said the NWRHA was not providing the department with tools to carry out their work, so they could bring in outside contractors.

A worker from the St James Medical Complex said the present executive at the facility was the worst he had seen in the 39 years he had been working there.

Workers said they had been told to comply then complain, and had complied, so were now complaining.

NWRHA CEO Anthony Blake met with Lambert and other members of the NUGFW executive on Thursday afternoon. He said daily paid workers received $6.3 million in overtime last year.

Officials told Newsday that Blake would be taking the issues to the board of the NWRHA, so there would not be an immediate resolution. Blake said he would meet with the union executive next week.

Newsday reached out to the Health Ministry for a response to the walkout but no response was received.

This story has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

Daily-rated workers from facilities run by the North West Regional Health Authority walked off the job on Thursday, citing a list of grievances, the foremost of which was failure to pay overtime to shift workers scheduled on weekends.

Speaking to workers and media at the NUGFW Hall on Henry Street, president general James Lambert said the issue that broke the camel’s back was the roster for overtime at St Ann’s Hospital.

“Over the years, they have been working the workers flat time on Saturdays and Sundays, and indicating compensatory time off.

"The union has stopped compensatory time off. There is nothing in the collective agreement that says you work a worker outside of the 40-hour week and then you give them compensatory time off.

"We are aware as a union, that since 2009/2010, because you can’t leave sick people unattended in a hospital, workers have to work Saturdays and Sundays, so they are considered shift workers."

He said the authority has been paying a shift premium and workers were receiving $9 an hour, but were being given time off on Saturdays and Sundays.

“When you are a shift worker, the policy in TT is quite clear: you cannot work daily-rated workers four Saturdays and four Sundays in the month. You make a seven-day roster in which two days in the week would be time off if you didn’t work Saturday and Sunday. If you have worked right through, Saturday and Sunday must be overtime.

"What the management has been doing, is giving time off on Saturday and Sunday.

“For the seven-day roster that has been made, you must have at least two days off, because the Industrial Relations Act provides it is a 40-hour week, and when you work shift workers Saturday and Sunday, it alternates. There is a Saturday and Sunday that must be considered a regular and ordinary working day, and the following Saturday and Sunday must be considered overtime. So you work two Saturdays and two Sundays in the month as regular days, and the rest must be considered overtime.”

Lambert said he met with the CEO and it was agreed that the roster would be scheduled in this way, but when the roster was released this morning, this was not taken into account, leading to workers walking off the job.

The workers were from the kitchen, laundry, environmental and engineering sections of the St Ann’s Hospital, the Port of Spain General Hospital, Mt Hope (where the laundry department for the NWRHA is located), and the St James Medical Complex.

Lambert said the workers had made sure to carry out their assigned tasks before leaving their facilities so no patients had been neglected.

Lambert also accused the NWRHA’s management of delaying the negotiation process for daily-paid workers, as the authority is responsible for co-ordinating the other RHAs to come to the negotiation table.

He said the meal allowance had remained the same since 2013 and there had been no increase in benefits in the NWRHA, unlike the other RHAs.

“We have something called UniMed insurance, where central and local government and the THA would have updated all the present benefits, but NWRHA remains the same. We have written to them, held meetings – nothing is happening on behalf of the workers.”

A meeting was scheduled with NWRHA CEO Anthony Blake for later in the day.