Fighting for Members' Livelihoods

Payroll and scheduling errors at Brant Centre

Burlington, ON—Front-line staff at Brant Centre Long Term Care Facility, who are members of Niagara Health and Service Workers Union, CLAC Local 302, have not been able to rely on a consistent schedule or trust that their pay stubs are correct for more than three months. Agency staff are being used to fill vacant shifts before union employees due to the mismanagement of a scheduling platform, leading to multiple grievances and frustrated CLAC members who rely on additional shifts to supplement their income.

“It really feels like the employer doesn’t care about fixing the scheduling issues,” says Stacy Sharma, CLAC steward. “We’ve seen too many of our members lose out on shifts that are being offered to agency staff. In the last two weeks alone, I’ve seen a handful of long-serving Brant Centre staff leave their jobs here for a more reliable employment elsewhere, or just retire from long term care all together because they are so fed up.”

“Why are we dealing with grievance after grievance? We just want to fix this,” says Melissa Higenell, CLAC steward and Local 302 Board member. “We’ve worked really hard to try to build a relationship with the employer that, in the past, has allowed us to resolve issues without negatively impacting the membership. It’s defeating for the stewards and our representatives to feel like we have to have the same conversation over and over again without seeing a change in practice or a real solution to a problem as important as scheduling and payroll errors.”

CLAC has represented Brant Centre employees since 2014. “Our members have lost trust in the employer’s ability to schedule their staff correctly,” says Arielle Ross, CLAC representative. “Our members shouldn’t need to worry about proper staffing and access to extra shifts. On top of the scheduling issues, the union has been made aware of payroll errors that are taking the employer too long to fix. Our members need to see that the employer cares about their well-being by fixing payroll errors and stop giving work to agency staff before our members.”

Brant Centre staff held an information picket at the facility on Monday, May 30.

“We welcomed the community to join us in standing up for our healthcare heroes,” says Ross.