DETOX CENTRE CUTS STAFF

Local News - Northeast Mental Health Centre detox programs in Greater
Sudbury are being slashed, a local union official says.

Detox (or withdrawal management programs) services are being
centralized under one roof and the number of treatment beds and staff
will be reduced by nearly half, said Peggy Hong, president of Local
666 of the Ontario Public Services Employees Union.

Jean-Guy Levesque, program manager for Pinegate Addiction Services,
confirmed Friday that six full-time and four part-time positions are
being cut.

He said services for men and women will be housed under one roof by
next summer, and that the Sudbury Men's Withdrawal Management Centre
at 109 Elm St. will close.

Layoff notices were sent to the addiction services workers Thursday,
all members of Local 666.

They will lose their jobs in three months. The workers earn about
$25,000-$35,000 annually.

"Currently, we have a men's detox and women's detox in Sudbury," said
Hong.

"They will be combining the two (facilities) in one location and that
means a cut of 10 staff."

Northeast Mental Health Centre currently operates separate facilities
for men and women -- the Sudbury Men's Withdrawal Management Centre
and the Pinegate Women's Withdrawal Management Centre at 336 Pine St.

Renovation and construction work is under way to accommodate both
men's and women's services at the same 336 Pine St. location, Levesque
said.

The facility should be operational by summer 2005.

"As a deficit management strategy, we are co-locating them," he said,
adding that the two services will be temporarily co-located until the
new facility opens.

"We have established partnerships with various community agencies and
have minimized the impact of the decision," he said.

The affected OPSEU members work directly with people battling
addictions, said Hong. All the full-time workers facing layoffs have
between 11 and 12 years of experience, she added, while part-time
workers have an average of one year of experience.

"It's a travesty that our people are losing jobs, but one has to
consider that we are also losing beds," she said. "They are almost
being cut in half. I believe that there are currently 32 beds and we
are going down to 18."

However, Levesque said the dramatic reduction in beds is temporary.
Once the new facility opens, it will hold 28 treatment beds. The staff
reduction, though, is permanent.

OPSEU has fought proposed cuts to staff since first learning of the
possibility in the spring. The union has long opposed locating men's
and women's services under the same roof.

"We are talking about putting some very vulnerable people together in
close proximity, and we are talking about a cut in the services," Hong
said.

"There is a trend to go towards a co-located men's and women's detox
because it's cheaper, rather than keeping two separate systems."