| Long-term care staff unhappy with conditions
Employees working at seniors homes and long-term care facilities have major concerns about staffing levels and the amount of care residents are receiving, says Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Alberta president D’Arcy Lanovaz.
CUPE recently sent out surveys to 3,000 members who work in the system and about 20 per cent responded. Sixty-six per cent of respondents said they had "little or no time" to give one-on-one care to residents, 49 per cent said they didn’t have enough time to meet resident care needs, for example, bathing residents, and 53 per cent of respondents said that staffing levels weren’t high enough to keep up with their workload and resident needs. Respondents also expressed concern that some seniors weren’t receiving a high enough level of care in the facilities they are in.
Lanovaz says the province’s labour shortage is making it difficult to hire enough staff at long-term care facilities and those who are employed are poorly paid.
"Many seniors care workers are low paid with no pension and no benefits. They can get higher pay at Tim Hortons for far easier work," says Lanovaz. "We’ve got staff that are working double shifts, sometimes triple shifts. They’re working eight, nine, 10 days in a row without breaks."
Lanovaz says the public needs to be educated about the "crisis" in seniors care and it needs to become more of a focus in the Conservative leadership race.
"Seniors care is not factoring into the discussion. I believe it’s shameful they’re not discussing seniors care," he says.
Rally against war in Afghanistan
Peace Calgary, an informal network of peace activists and peace organizations, is staging a rally against the war in Afghanistan on October 28 from noon to 1 p.m. at the Harry Hays Federal Building.
The rally will be part of Canada-wide demonstrations that are being organized by the Canadian Labour Congress, the Canadian Peace Alliance, Collectif Echec a la guerre and the Canadian Islamic Congress.
Gord Christie, one of the organizers of the Calgary rally, says he’s disturbed that Canadian troops are in a combat role rather than acting as peacekeepers in Afghanistan.
"I would like to see Canada be a peacemaker and not taking the lead in an aggressive war. I think that is fundamentally wrong. Most peacekeeping countries around the world refuse to participate in this," says Christie. "This is Stephen Harper cozying up to George Bush."
Project Ploughshares and CANDIL, non-profit organizations that promote peace and social justice, won’t be participating in the rally. Neither group is calling for Canadian troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan, but they are raising concerns about Canada’s role in Afghanistan. The groups are organizing a panel discussion on Canada’s involvement in the war on Afghanistan, which will happen from 1 to 3 p.m. at Parkdale United Church.
"We need to question our support of the Americans in this war on terror and where it’s bringing Canada," says Julie Hrdlicka, executive director of CANDIL. "I think that the direction we’re going in Afghanistan is very dangerous." |
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