Striking Canadian Union of Public Employees healthcare workers are complying with the province’s back-to-work order, union leaders said.
The order announced by the justice minister on Friday impacts health workers in Locals 1252, 1190 and 1251, who represent support staff in immunization clinics and hospitals, and those who provide services from laundry to hospitals and nursing homes.
“They decided they were going back to work this morning because it was an order,” said Norma Robinson, president of Local 1252.
The Robinson local represents support staff and maintenance workers in hospitals, including more than 2,000 who have been ordered to return to work.
The local has about 9,000 members in total, 70 percent of whom have already worked throughout the strike as they were deemed essential by the province.
More than 200 laundry workers are also affected by the order, in addition to the 48 employees in the supply chain that supports hospitals.
Any worker who does not report for work on time is subject to fines ranging from $ 480 to $ 20,400 per day. Those who encourage workers to strike could also face fines.
“In addition, CUPE will be fined a minimum of $ 100,000 for each day a worker does not comply with the mandatory order,” the province wrote in a statement on Friday.
Hospitals can assign non-union workers or contract out work elsewhere to ensure continued services, if necessary, under the order, the statement added.
At a press conference on Friday afternoon, the CEOs of the province’s two health authorities said they requested the order out of concern for patients, many of whom have had urgent surgeries canceled.
In early Saturday afternoon, the two health authorities sent out press releases welcoming the return of the workers. Vitalité Health Network said the situation in hospitals is already improving – and over the next few days, they will work to increase the capacity of hospitals for surgeries.
The ordinance, which is separate from the existing mandatory COVID-19 ordinance, only applies to striking health workers. School staff, prison guards, court reporters and other strikers are not affected and can continue the strike.
CUPE considers legal options
CUPE president Steve Drost said that even if healthcare workers comply with the order, union lawyers are considering how they could challenge it.
It is possible that this violates the province’s legislation defining who is considered an essential worker during a strike, Drost said.
“The unions have complied with this order, but there are certainly a lot of questions about who it applies to and who it does not apply to,” Drost said.
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