Frontline healthcare workers, retirees, and community members will hold an information picket outside of Bluewater Heath on April 25, 2019 to call on the hospital to fulfill its pay equity commitments.
SEIU Healthcare, the union that represents frontline workers at Bluewater Health, has been trying to negotiate a pay equity plan with Bluewater Health for over a decade. Bluewater must post a plan to meet the requirements of the Pay Equity Act, an important piece of legislation that aims to eliminate systemic gender discrimination in compensation for female dominated work.  

"Female frontline healthcare workers at Bluewater have waited too long for justice!" said Sharleen Stewart, President of SEIU Healthcare. "We're fed up and demand that Bluewater Health take the necessary steps to complete the pay equity process."

Negotiations began shortly after Bluewater Health was established in 2003. Most of the pay equity process was completed from 2005-2010, but then the process was interrupted by litigation until 2014. In 2016, the parties met regularly and came close to completing the pay equity plan. Since then, Bluewater Health used stall tactics, cancelled meetings, and even claimed impasse while refusing to negotiate.

A group of retired healthcare workers from Bluewater Health filed an application for Review Services with the Pay Equity Commission. They received a decision from Review Officer Collins Kelly, which confirmed that Bluewater must work with SEIU Healthcare to achieve pay equity by following the process they agreed to in 2006. Initially, the hospital indicated it would resume negotiations, but they have remained unwillingly to take the final steps to complete the plan.

SEIU Healthcare also recently filed an application for Review Services requesting the assistance of a Review Officer from the Pay Equity Commission to support the parties in completing the final steps to achieve pay equity.