Frustrated Gatineau nurses stage 2nd sit-in in 2 days

Fed up with being short-staffed and forced to work overtime, nurses at the Gatineau Hospital staged their second sit-in in two days on Tuesday.

Nurses from the hospital's emergency room and fifth-floorpsychiatric ward began the sit-in at 4 p.m.Three hours later, a manager and union representative put an end to the demonstration.

It followed another sit-in overnight Monday, and an earlier one at the end of August.

Ambulances diverted

In response to the latest sit-in,ambulances transporting patients not requiring specialized were diverted to the Papineau Hospital until about 11 p.m.

Representatives from the nurses' union met with the regional health authority,the Centre intgr de sant et de services sociaux de l'Outaouais (CISSSO), shortly after the latest sit-in began.

"We had frank discussions and we had clear and firm commitments from the [CISSSO] CEO to work on projects that will be positive for all of our members, but also for the Outaouais," said Patrick Guay, acting president of the Syndicat des professionnelles en soins de l'Outaouais (SPSO) in a French-language interview.

Theunion has previously denounced the CISSSOfor letting its members down.

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Another meeting between CISSO and the SPSO was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon with a mediator from the Tribunal administratif du travail, the province's labour tribunal.

Guay said the idea for the sit-ins didn't come from the union.

"The sit-ins are organized by the care professionals when they arrive in their department and see that the situation is untenable and that it will be impossible to provide adequate care. It is they who make the decision at that timeto demonstrate," he said.