Hamilton Health Sciences is a big corporation, serving hundreds of thousands of people. We understand there is bound to be some waste that can be trimmed; some areas that can do with a bit less. But trimming the fat should not compromise the health of our patients or the community at large.

We work in nearly every nook and cranny of HHS operations. In these web pages and through correspondence with management, we have made many suggestions for money-saving improvements.

One of the biggest ways management can save money is by changing its attitude towards its own employees. Stop treating us like the enemy!

Unlike most other employers in the province, HHS management will take just about any disagreement with the union to arbitration, the final step in resolving a dispute while the Collective Agreement is in force.

In the past year alone, HHS management has taken more than 50 cases to arbitration -- most of them cases it should have known it had absolutely no chance of winning!

Arbitration cases cost a lot of money. Management always hires high-priced lawyers at $400/hour-plus for these cases. Then there is the cost of the arbitrator and panel nominees.

At minimum, management would pay $10,000 for each arbitration case, whether it wins or loses. And it loses 90% of the time. Do the math -- that's half a million dollars thrown away in the past year alone!

Most of the top management at HHS was appointed by the provincial Tories during their eight-year reign of terror over the province. Their confrontational attitude smacks of the Tory policies of yesterday.