MUHC employees accused of sabotage after gloves found in pipes
Union says it will hold strike days beginning Oct. 20 in response
The union representing support workers at the McGill University Health Centre says accusations of sabotage influenced its members' decision to go on strike next month.
The union was reacting to comments by the MUHC's director of public affairs, Richard Fahey, about the hospital's investigation into recurring blockages in the new superhospital's plumbing system.
"We found 20-odd gloves all packed together in one drain after a toilet blocked," said Fahey. In another instance, a rolled-up newspaper was found in a drainage pipe.
"These things do not get into toilets on their own," Fahey said.
'Slap in the face,' says union president
That's a sad attempt to discredit the union, the CSN-affiliated union's secretary general, Mary Ann Davis, told CBC Daybreak host Mike Finnerty on Wednesday.
The MUHC released photos of the offending items to the media, along with the suggestion that the blockages were caused by employees, Davis contended.
The accusations of sabotage are a slap in the face after staff went above and beyond to help move the hospitals to the MUHC's Glen site, she said.
These things do not get into toilets on their own.- Richard Fahey, MUHC
She said the union's decision to call for six days of rotating strikes was partly a response to the hospital's allegations.
Davis said the decision was also a reaction to what she described as an attempt by MUHC management to prevent the union from going to the media.
"We will not stop talking to the media because we do believe that the PPP format — the public-private partnership — that was used by the MUHC is a fail, and it's going to end up costing billions and billions... It could end up, within the next 30 years when the building comes back to us, three times the initial cost," she said.
The total cost of the new facility, designed and built by engineering giant SNC-Lavalin, was $1.3 billion. SNC-Lavalin is also under contract to maintain the hospital.
Fahey, for his part, said he was not part of the meeting in which employees were allegedly told not to talk to the media, but he did say the MUHC would never issue that kind of directive.
"What we're trying to solve here is the drains issue at the MUHC, so we have a good working environment," he said.
The union represents 4,800 support staff at the MUHC, including paratechnical workers, auxiliary and trades people, office employees, technicians and administrative clerks.
Those workers are expected to begin their rotating strike on Oct. 20.