OCHU

Kingston Foodfight

KINGSTON, Ont. – More than a week after alerting Ontario’s health minister about whether a contract process between Kingston General Hospital (KGH) and a global food company meets provincial criteria, there has been deafening silence from both the province and the hospital.

The community coalition opposing the outsourcing deal says that’s just not good enough for the people of Kingston. More than 10,000 people signed postcards and took part in an on-line action asking KGH not to sign the deal.

At a noon (12:00 p.m.) rally tomorrow, Wednesday, January 26, in front of the KGH Stuart Street entrance, the local food group will again call on Ontario’s health minister Deborah Matthews to step in and suspend the contract while her ministry conducts a thorough investigation into the potential infraction of the province’s procurement criteria.

The letter sent to the health minister last week highlighting the following two concerns was also sent to Ontario’s environment minister and the provincial auditor:
1. Whether the province’s procurement protocols were adhered to because, as we understand it, during the RFP process, Compass, the eventual successful bidder, was provided a copy of an earlier KGH internal bid in potential breach of the requirements of non-discrimination contained in the guidelines, as well as the legal duties on an issuer of any tendering process.
2. Whether the Compass/KGH contract failed to incorporate the green procurement considerations under the public sector procurement guidelines.

We also want to highlight that, despite nearly 10,000 Kingston residents opposing the outsourcing of food service to Compass, the KGH Board of Governors rubber-stamped the deal.

For more information, please contact:

Michael Hurley President, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) 416-884-0770
Louis Rodrigues President, CUPE 1974, People Who Care About Kingston 613-531-1319
Stella Yeadon CUPE Communications 416-559-9300

For more information about the local hospital food campaign, go to: www.kingstonfoodfight.ca.

“Going down the road” Kingston food fight protest today1:00 p.m. – John A. Macdonald – Hwy. 401 on-ramp

KINGSTON, Ont. – The Sir John A. Macdonald on-ramp to the Hwy 401 will be the site of an impromptu protest rally today. At 1:00 p.m., health care workers from eastern Ontario will join members of Kingston’s community-based coalition opposing a controversial Kingston General Hospital (KGH) deal that will see patient meals outsourced to a factory operation west of Toronto.

What: Kingston Food Fight protest
When: Monday, January 24, 2011 – 1:00 p.m.
Where: Hwy. 401 – Sir John A. Macdonald on-ramp
Who: People Who Care About Kingston, OCHU/CUPE

While the protest is largely symbolic, the loss to Kingston’s local economy and the detrimental impact on the environment is very real. “Kingston area businesses and residents should be very concerned that all the economic benefits are going down the highway to a global corporation,” said Michael Hurley, the president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU).

Last week, OCHU, on behalf of the community coalition opposing the KGH foodservice contract with Compass, sent a letter to the Ontario health minister asking her to stop the deal and investigate whether the deal meets the province’s procurement guidelines.

For more information, please contact:

Michael Hurley President, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) 416-884-0770
Louis Rodrigues President, CUPE 1974, People Who Care About Kingston 613-531-1319
Stella Yeadon CUPE Communications 416-559-9300

For more information about the local hospital food campaign, go to: www.kingstonfoodfight.ca.

Local food campaign says “it isn’t over until we say it’s over”

KINGSTON, Ont. – Kingston residents filled Kingston City Hall last night for the first in a series of ‘think local’ public meetings as part of the community campaign focused on getting Kingston General Hospital (KGH) to develop a made-in-Kingston solution for patient food.

The groundswell of community opposition to the KGH deal with multi-national food giant Compass Corporation should have been heeded because the “sustainability of our community is at stake. . We’re here to tell the hospital that the Kingston food fight isn’t over until we say it’s over,” said Dianne Dowling with local chapter of the National Farmers Union (NFU), one of the community coalition partners which also include: People Who Care About Kingston, Campaign to Save the Prison Farms, Urban Gardeners of Kingston, Kingston & District Labour Council, Sisters of Providence and CUPE 1974.

Dowling and others including audience members were irked that KGH is purposely ignoring the fact that the local food campaign is a community driven initiative and catagorizes the Kingston food fight campaign as a hospital union issue.

The coalition is now considering several legal options including whether the KGH food deal meets provincial criteria for outsourcing and will be asking Ontario’s health minister Deb Matthews to stay the contract until her ministry can review aspects of procurement process that may have been circumvented. A follow-up public meeting is also being planned for the new year.

Council of Canadians (COC) Chairperson, Maude Barlow, the keynote speaker at the public meeting, reminded the capacity crowd that the “decision to outsource these services flies in the face of all that we know about livable futures which will be built on local, sustainable food production and the creation of good local jobs.”

Dr. Edward Leyton, a resident in family medicine at KGH since 1975 and one of the guest speakers last night, called the KGH decision to outsource wrong-headed and stupid.

“The hospital has a moral obligation to feed patients well. The importance of good nutrition is already recognized in disease prevention, but it is even more important in a compromised patient who enters hospital most likely with a chronic disease caused by malnutrition itself,” said Leyton.

For more information, please contact:

Stella Yeadon CUPE Communications (416) 559-9300

For more information about the campaign, visit www.kingstonfoodfight.ca

Campaign kicks off

250 members participated in the demonstration November 3 at KGH.
We had speakers from the National Farmers’ Union, Save the Prison Farms, Kingston and District Labour Council and the school teachers. !
! Members took leaflets and flyers to distribute to their friends and families.
The next demonstration will be at Board of Governors meeting on November 23. We will be calling you with the details....read more