Some staff at the London Health Sciences Centre have been excluded from meetings on monetary and budgetary matters after attending for more than 20 years, the head of a union representing those staff has said.
But on Friday, the hospital hinted at the option of returning to the table.
The London Health Sciences Centre’s quarterly Financial Advisory Committee meetings bring together hospital directors and union leaders to meet and discuss finances.
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The discussion has advanced patient care and operating conditions, said Lorrie Vandersluis, president of Local 468 of the Canadian Union of Clerical and Professional Employees (COPE), which represents hospital staff.
But the union has been excluded from the meetings, he said.
“They used to give us figures of what’s going down in terms of budget, but now we haven’t been able to access them,” he said. “There’s been a lack of transparency about what’s going on financially at the hospital. . »
In October, Vandersluis said he won a letter from Julia Marchesan, the LHSC’s vice president of human resources, saying COPE union leaders were no longer welcome at committee meetings they attended.
“The composition of CAF has been replaced by one of compliance. . . COPE has no express representation within the FAC,” Marchesan said in the letter.
No explanation was given for the decision, Vandersluis said.
“I think we made some genuine positive adjustments and passed on data to our members through those meetings,” he said.
“Our members have a right to be at the table. We’ve done some smart things and I don’t know why that door was closed.
The meetings led to heated exchanges over issues “that may have been influential,” Vandersluis said.
But on Friday, after The Free Press was banned, the LHSC sent a concise message.
“Union leaders are welcome to our Budget Advisory Committee meeting,” it reads.
However, that reaction doesn’t specify why COPE was banned and whether it’s welcomed back, Vandersluis said.
“I’m satisfied with that. There’s no transparency. Where’s the inclusion?”she says. They play with words. They say the unions can be there,” but they don’t mention COPE.
The recent wave of LHSC comes as the hospital is criticized for sending executives and officials to meetings and site visits in Las Vegas, Portugal and the United Arab Emirates. Another planned for Australia was cancelled at the last minute.
The Ontario Ministry of Health launched an investigation into LHSC’s expenses after The Free Press reported on the trips.
LHSC is projecting a $76-million deficit for the current fiscal year, about $30 million more than its budget shortfall in the previous year.
As for the committee controversy, Vandersluis said he last attended an assembly in April. He asked in the following weeks when the committee would meet and then won the letter in October, he said.
“I sent an email saying I didn’t hear from his office; Are you going to schedule a meeting?She.
It is known whether other unions were also excluded from budget advisory committee meetings. The hospital has seven unions representing workers.
The meetings are held periodically quarterly, but more meetings were held during the pandemic because the issues were urgent, Vandersluis said.
“There were so many issues with COVID that we would meet once a month,” she said.
There’s no law requiring the union to be invited to attend the meeting, but that’s the hospital’s policy, he said.
Vandersluis said there were times when those meetings resulted in positive changes, such as when unions questioned whether small purchases, such as materials, required control approval.
“The changes were implemented later,” the union said.
There are approximately six hundred COPE members at London Health Sciences Center Local 468.
ndebono@postmedia. com
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