MUHC employees accused of sabotage after gloves found in pipes

The union representing support workersat the McGill University Health Centre says accusations of sabotage influenced its members'decision to go onstrikenext month.

• MUHC works to address sewage backup at Glen site

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 plumbingsystem.

"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 drainagepipe.

"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-affiliatedunion's secretary general, Mary Ann Davis, toldCBC Daybreakhost MikeFinnertyon Wednesday.

The MUHC released photos of the offending items tothe 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 theMUHC'sGlen site, she said.

These things do not get into toilets on their own.- Richard Fahey, MUHC

She saidthe union's decision to call forsix days of rotatingstrikes was partly a response tothe hospital's allegations.

Davis said the decision was also a reactionto what she described as an attempt byMUHCmanagement to prevent the union from going to the media.

"We will not stop talking to the media becausewe do believe that the PPP formatthe public-private partnership that was used by the MUHCis 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 andbuilt byengineering giant SNC-Lavalin,was $1.3 billion. SNC-Lavalin is also undercontract to maintain the hospital.

Fahey, for his part, said he was not part of the meeting in which employees were allegedly told not totalk 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 drainsissue at the MUHC, so we have a good working environment," he said.

The union represents 4,800 support staff at the MUHC,including paratechnicalworkers, auxiliary and trades people, office employees, technicians and administrative clerks.

Those workersare expected to begin their rotating strike on Oct. 20.