Thompson hospital nurses voting on measure to ‘grey-list’ facility over safety concerns

Unionized nurses in northern Manitoba will vote on whether to “grey list” their workplace because of persistent safety concerns and staffing issues.

Manitoba Nurses Union members who work at Thompson General Hospital will be able to cast ballots from Wednesday until Friday afternoon on the measure to discourage colleagues elsewhere from applying for jobs or taking shifts at the facility.

A vote had been under consideration since someone fired a gun in the hospital last year on Christmas Eve, but a stabbing in the emergency waiting room in September “really brought it to the forefront for discussion,” a MNU spokesperson said Tuesday.

Grey-listing is a declaration by union members that their employer is failing to maintain professional standards.

A nurse at the hospital, who spoke to the Free Press on the condition of anonymity, plans to vote in favour of the action.

“Our working conditions are becoming more and more unsafe,” they said. “Nurses are scared to come to work.”

MNU members working at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre overwhelmingly voted to grey-list the province’s largest hospital in August over safety concerns following a string of incidents on and near the core-area campus, including five sexual assaults — two of which targeted nurses — in early July.

HSC installed weapons scanners at main entrances and there are two police officers on duty in the adult emergency department around the clock.

The HSC designation remains in place. The union and employer are discussing additional safety improvements before the listing will be lifted, MNU president Darlene Jackson said Tuesday.

“We have hired nurses, but there’s always things like nurses leaving the North or they are retiring.”

Thompson General doesn’t have metal detectors or weapons scanners in place, or specially trained institutional safety officers, which the nurse says are desperately needed.

A 20-year-old woman was arrested on Sept. 30 after another woman was stabbed in the hospital’s waiting room. The suspect was not a patient at the hospital but was there with a family member, RCMP said at the time.

Last Christmas Eve, a 33-year-old man — who was not a patient — was taken into custody for pointing and shooting a gun inside the hospital’s chapel. RCMP seized the firearm and located a bullet hole and ammunition in the chapel.

Nurses and doctors called for security improvements at the facility, including the presence of institutional safety officers, after that incident.

The Thompson nurse said that if staffing shortages were addressed, it would have a trickle-down effect on safety concerns for staff, patients and visitors, along with other issues.

“We have hired nurses, but there’s always things like nurses leaving the North or they are retiring,” the nurse said. “We just can’t keep up.”

The MNU has resorted to grey listings six times in its 45-year history. Before HSC nurses took action, the most recent case was at Dauphin Regional Health Centre in 2007.

Jackson was in Thompson Monday as part of the union’s “presidential tour” of northern Manitoba health-care facilities, speaking with nurses.

She said union members expressed frustration with the province’s long-delayed promise to have institutional safety officers working at the hospital.

“I think that many nurses who live and work outside the Perimeter (Highway) feel as if their voices are not heard, and they definitely feel that way in Thompson,” Jackson said.

“I think that many nurses who live and work outside the Perimeter (Highway) feel as if their voices are not heard, and they definitely feel that way in Thompson.”

In June, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the officers were in training and would be making their way to Thompson’s hospital, but none have arrived to work at the regional health centre.

The province committed to hiring eight institutional safety officers for Thompson’s hospital in Tuesday’s throne speech opening the legislative session.

The positions will be posted this week, but a timeline for when the officers will be stationed at the hospital was not outlined.

Asagwara was not made available for an interview Tuesday. In an emailed statement, the minister said the need for stronger on-site safety supports is clear, and the safety-officer hiring is part of a “broader effort to make workplaces safer in the North and across Manitoba.”

Planning is also underway to implement “secure and monitored” access to the hospital that will take effect Dec. 1, a spokesperson for the Northern Regional Health Authority said in an email.

In January, the health authority directed that the hospital be locked down each evening at 7 p.m., at all access points, including elevators and stairwells, but not the main doors to the emergency room.

At the time, MNU said the measure was insufficient.

Since the Aug. 25 grey-listing at HSC, seven net-new nurses have been hired, according to data provided by Asagwara’s principal secretary, Emily Coutts.

HSC currently has 307 nursing vacancies.

“I think what’s on (the union’s) mind is that they want firm commitments from the employer.”

Academics say grey-listing is a clever tactic for the union to exert some collective pressure while remaining compliant with labour laws on striking.

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The measure puts pressure on the provincial government to address nurses’ concerns, but some see urging others to stay away runs counter to the overall belief in the health-care sector that adding staff is key to improving the system.

“I think what’s on (the union’s) mind is that they want firm commitments from the employer,” said Adam King, an associate professor in labour studies at the University of Manitoba.

In addition to staffing and safety, the province needs to address the workplace culture in hospitals to prevent nurses from leaving the province or profession, Jackson said.

“It means bringing nurses to the table when you’re making important decisions… respecting and acknowledging what nurses bring to the table and listening to their concerns and actually acting on them,” she said.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca

Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer

Nicole Buffie is a reporter for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom as a multimedia producer in 2023. Read more about Nicole.

Every piece of reporting Nicole produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.