Nurses union threatens to ‘grey list’ more hospitals after Winnipeg nurse attacked

The Manitoba Nurses Union says it’s threatening to ‘grey list’ more Manitoba hospitals after an employee at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg was sexually assaulted in a parkade earlier this month.

A grey-listed facility is one in which union members are discouraged from working due to workplace concerns, which could include violence or understaffing.

Nurses voted to grey-list Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre this summer after a spate of attacks on hospital staff. A vote to grey-list the hospital in Thompson is scheduled for Friday.

Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson says serious concerns raised by hospital workers continue to fall on deaf ears.

“I had one nurse tell me she runs to her car every night because she got chased by a male one night,” she said.

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“Nurses are just not going to take this anymore. It is absolutely unacceptable that you have to be on guard every time you go to work.”

In the St. Boniface incident, which took place on Nov. 8, police said a hospital employee got out of her car at the parkade around 11 p.m., when an unknown man asked her for the time before trapping her between two vehicles and sexually assaulting her.

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The suspect took off when the woman screamed, police said, and she then alerted security.

The man, 27, was spotted by security around 3:30 a.m. on Nov. 9 and was held at the hospital until police arrived. He was taken into custody and charged with sexual assault.

In a memo to staff, the hospital’s CEO, Nicole Aminot, said security measures are under review in light of the incident, and that the issue is being discussed with both the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and Winnipeg police.