Government letter backs up hospital wage theory TERRACE — The Hospital Em- ployees Union (HEU) says it has evidence that Mills Memorial Hospital did not receive all of the money it should have this year for wage increases. The union has been saying that while the government agreed to pay for raises bargained for this year, it did not pass along what was needed to all hospitals in the province. Mills Memorial was one of a number of hospitals to have its budget frozen. It had to pay wage increases and cover inflation with the same amount of money it got last year, That resulted in bed closures and the loss of the equivalent of 11 full time positions. / Proof of the wage gap, says Io- _ cal HEU local president. Elaine. Pigeau, is in a letter sent to her by a health ministry official. It acknowledges that money wasn’t distributed according 10 wage increase needs but by how many patient days there were for the population in ihe hospital’s coverage area. The latter is called a utilization tate and in the. case of Mills, it Army preparing for Christmas _ TERRACE — The Salvation A my is doing something new this ycar for Christmas. It's having a Christmas dinner for singles instead of giving them full-fledged food hampers. But those going to the dinner will receive a small hamper to take home, says Salvation Army Lt. Mike Hoeft. ‘Last year we gave approxi- mately 100 hampers to singles and bad a dinner, But we found that singles often had no facilities to cook,’’ he said. a Hoeft said a singles dinner is also important for the com- panionship it provides. The singles dinner plan is just a part of the annual Salvation Army campaign. to help those less fortunate. Hoeft plans on making hamper applications available by next Monday with hamper distribution From front Nisga’a deal .... development «will +: tequires: Ta Nisga’a opinion before: or-if;-it- takes place. ae The agrcement will affect some small business logging programs in the west Nass area. And the area covered by the agreement will include TFL 51, the forest licence owned by Westar that once. fed the compa- ny’s now-closed Gitwangak saw- mill. The area of TFL 51 is also claimed by the Gitanyow (formerly Kitwancool). [ts inclu- sion in the interim agreement is opposed by the Gitanyow who have a separate land claim to be negotiated. to take place Christmas week. He estimates it'll take close to $24,000 in cash to package ap- proximately 400 hampers. The true cost is higher, as much as $80 to $85, once donations of food and children’s presents are taken into account, said Hoeft. Salvation Army members and volunteers will be out in the Skeena Mall. and at the. liquor Store beginning Dec. 5 with ket- tles for cash donations. Hoeft’s asking that toy dona- tions not be wrapped to ensure that they are correctly matched with recipients. Toy donations can be dropped off under the Christmas tree in the Skeena Broadcasters lobby. ‘*A person can also donate their time, Not everybody can donate food or money. We can always use help, particularly with wrap- ping of presents,'’ said Hoeft. aS Diabetes “| Please Volunteer Y Call 732-4334 or 1-800-665-6526 . ome CAnADIAM (pee ey DIABETES: CAHADIENME Pc ern association | oy O1ABETE | was more than the 1,400 patient days allowed for every 1,000 people in the area. (Mills officials have said that the utilization rate is difficult to achieve because of the large num- ‘bers of people from out of town who use the hospital.) (Travel distance and weather often combine to keep people in a hospital than is the case clse- where in the province.) Hospitals who exceeded the patient days formula ‘‘received no funding increase. Mills Memorial is one of the hospitals in this calegory,’’ said the letter. “This confirms our suspicions,’ said Pigeau. ‘‘Some hospitals in their budgets not only got inflationary increases but wage increases also. Mills got nothing, zip.’’ _ Pigeau said the change in the way the government gave hospi- tals money went against the spirit of the wage bargaining. ) NCMA25LIGHT — | OUTDOOR LIGHT SET 5 UWVev and varevae dl ‘FRIDAY, “(Health minister Elizabeth) _ Cull should have to explain this. How can you use a population demographics model to fund wages increases?,” said Pigeau. _. Pigeau added the province de- cided to punish those hospitals that exceeded the number of patient days. “(What do you do with an 87- year-old woman who may be ready to go home, but whose family can’t come and get her right away? Put her in a hotel? That would be morally wrong,” Figeau continued. — One. solution would be home- based care, but that hasn’t shown up yet in Terrace, she added. Pigeau said the hospitals only agreed to contract settlements after they were told the govern- ment would pay for them. Mills did receive some extra money this year to cover the pay equity provisions in the new con- tracts. f MICROWAVE .4 CU. FT. | 500 WATT Reg. 129.99 RVICES « Make-up + Waxing ¢ Stocking Stuffers + Lash Tinting * Nose/Ear Piercing » Gift Cerlificates Salon fa ee Special - Jan, 1st FOR AN APPOINTMENT CALL: Pennie, Bev, Jon or Colleen 4727 LAZELLE AVE. 635-7737 ATURDAY & SUNDAY SP CIALS ‘ALL ADULT | K-TELFOOD | ALL CASIO ROLLER BLADES . 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