June 13, 2016 10:44 from Peter Langille
The Ontario Nurses Association is warning of major problems within Windsor Regional Hospital as the result of layoffs.
This Wednesday, is the date any RN who has taken an early retirement package will leave.
But ONA Local bargaining chair Susan Summerdyke says there is already frustration and chaos as a result of the reductions to date.
She says hospital administration is having serious difficulty getting enough bodies to fill the shifts: "the inability to create a base schedule. They've got gaps and holes in schedules because as of June 15th the people who accepted an early retirement package have to go, but they may not have their replacement, may not have the RPNs"
Summerdyke says the "bumping" process to complete the layoffs is not going well because part-timers with good seniority don't want to take full time positions with low seniority, where they are more likley to be laid off.
She says morale among the nurses is horrible.
Summerdyke says in order to cover the shifts retired nurses are being called back and other RN's are doing a lot of overtime.
She says they're already hearing of more layoffs on top of the 169 already announced.
