cruise page2 YVouth faces robbelry charges kv-FLn Whitby Oshawa hospitais eut costs pe4. Warriors get sniper m trade pael7 Problems mounting at mBental healhcnr EBy 11k.Kowalskl A strlk. by moat of its 900 employees la piing the. Whit.by Mental Health Centre to, the breaklgpoint. Although anagement staff and ousentliworkers cari stilIcoepe wlitii.h Impact of Ontarlo' firet provincs-wlde public sector strike, aUdntfator Bon Ballantyne admit. proble at the centre are Inoeoasng aimait on a daily basis. Whlle it lias not reached. that stage yet, -Ballantyne warns that theii.r n mmbers of the Ontario Pulic Service Employees Union remaln off the job, the possibility exista that the. hospital could b. forced ta shut down. Lois than 20 per oent of the regular workforoe .le tending ta needa of about 230 patients, Ballant;ynio said. "Patients are havmng problemes getting acces to their funds, cantoon servie, frequency of care, and ability to move about the. site," ho said. "As w. move into the. second week of the strike, these issues became more critical.", A fre lnione patient s roo Mearly last Friday mornlng resulted ln moéko and water damage to, at lenst one-haîf of the ward, Ballantyno iald. Thre sfzing employees offered assistance and while no one was serlously !Wiured, Ballantyne le worrled that the. outcome may b. different neit Urne. "AnY Incident creates a potentialy explosive situation," he said. "Tiie worst case scenarjo would b. that we. have ta close the. site down and evacuate." Ballatyn explained that if any SEE PAGE 3 E ~ iI Picket disrupts hospital-operations, BY M1k. Kowalski Ontarios ,fret provinoe-wide Public 8ector itrike i. playing havoc wlth' Wbltby ý General Hospital'. dally operations., Baspital officiais accuse both the provincial govrnment and Ontarlo Publie Service Employees Union (OPSEU) of ueing the facity ns a "pawn" in the 10-day-old dispute. Offciais warn that unlese stops are taken tu niinimize the impact ofrnearby OPSEU plcket lin.., the odds of a serlous incident occurring wil , only increase the. longer'tii. strike drage on. "Tii. potential for something monumental la tiier," vloie-odent Mar Kealey eaid of disruptions- ta traffic caimsed by plcket lin.. at the. intersection of Gordon and Victoria streets. "Some supplies are nat getting through, visitars complain that tiiey're belng iiarassed ... we're sitting on pins and needies," he Prolilblted from picketing on Crown land, OPSEU members employed at the. Whltby Mental H.altii Centre (WMHC> have been forcod ta set up picket lin.. on the. corner. As a result, car andsevc vehicles bound for tiie hospital - wiiichis net aparty to the dispute - have been delayed several minutes or, In smrecases, drivers are honouning the. picket lin. and, do not continue on. For exaznple, it, took five days before a driver for *the hospital's private garbage hauler was willing ta cross tiie lime and pick up the. mounting waste, Kealey said. Ras were even spotted scurrylng around the, hospital grounds at one point, l. added. "W. have nothâng tu do with the. strike, so theres no reason, wiiy tiie government oaet view thus .as a unique situation," said Kealey. We're trying our level best ta convince management board and the. Mlnistry ofHFealth ta, use their boit senses an d lot comproise health care-. Kealey said -Witby General ciiief executive- officer Elizabethi Woodburybas been>negotiating- witii senior iiealtii ministry and management.board officiais since, prior ta the. strike.' But ns of Monday, 'the. government wns holding firm ta itg position that plckets will not ho ailowed on Orown property. .Since Gordon Street la flot a public road, but owned by the, Province, OPSEU muet use the. n.xt closeet venue, Victoria'Street. While the union promIss ta Jet ambulances througii tii. une witiiout unpediment, ail otiier vehicles are hoing stopped. Durham Regional Police have visited the. site and told OPSEU offcais that cars can't b. delayed, for longer tha two minutes. Kealey sald "tensions and frustrations" of hospital staff, patients and visitars are runnlng hlii but did flot know what hospital officiais will do if negotiations prove futile. OPSEU iregional vice-president Joan Gates sympathlzed witii Kealey and. said the. union will SE PAGE 16 , WGRKERS, UNION REPS CRITICAL 0F STAFF REPOR-T. Mýore study--c By 11k. Kowalski A proposai ta privatize WhitbYs garbage cllection service ha.i been sent back for furtier study. On Monday, Town council's operations comnuttee deferred acting on'a staff reconunendation ta Invite tenders for ail residential waste management services now pTovidod by the municipality. E.Uimated ta mve anywhere fr-om- *215,000 ta $310,000 on Whltby'sannual garbagecolectin 'f garba e$sr Moig li.Dooal only a portion of a uta' rport on ovenhauling eisingservices. <Included in the. eight-part recomamendation are measureg tiiat modlly or eliminate comme andIndustrial wnste collection and, impose new stipulations on rural residents. Altiiougii thereport does not conuit the Town ta go ti. privat. sector route,. committe. members wers unwilling t even ècali for tendors wlthout seing input from tiie unio n that remeents Tbwn omployes. d epaet management ta meet with offlcais of tam.Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and respond ta union, criticism of thiereport. Dospite- councillor Judi Longfield'e contention that tiiey oweèd it ta --Whitby'-taxpacyers ta * btai details of private proposaes lion.p o8iosa nssomnan paisile, the. otiier three committee members sa w no iiarm in waiting anotiier two wpeeh for staff ta rePort. ..More than 40 Town employees, their fammles and friende attended tii, meeting and hbeard union officiais and front-ine workers alike 'criticize tii.- 18-page document and, condemn tii. phulosopiy behind. prlvatizng Car rentai becomes world