My union gave me a voice

 

Name: Sheinoor Hargrove

Occupation: Registered Nurse at Riverview Hospital

Union: BCNU

Sheinoor Hargrove’s path to union activism was slow and steady.  She was initially encouraged by a nurse clinician who saw in Sheinoor someone aware of the issues around her and someone who wanted to have a voice.  It began with small steps, attending union-sponsored courses and gatherings.  “It made me think that for me to have a voice, I need to learn more about my union,” remembers Sheinoor.  “Once I started to get to know my union, I started being much more active at Riverview with things that were not exactly right.  Now with all the education I have thanks to the BC Nurses’ Union’s support, I have many extra skills that I can take anywhere that I am so thankful for.”

Sheinoor is a front-line healthcare worker.  She works with chronically mentally ill adults at Riverview Hospital.  She was born in Tanzania and she and her family came here when she was five.  She had always envisioned herself as a pediatric nurse.  By the time Sheinoor graduated from BCIT as a registered nurse in 1994, nursing jobs were few and far between.  She also discovered that pediatrics was not her ideal specialty. A couple of her classmates had landed jobs at Riverview Hospital after graduation and urged Sheinoor to apply there, if only as a stopgap measure.  “Now I realize everything happens for a reason”.

She told herself that her position at the facility was just temporary, that she would apply elsewhere after half a year had passed.  “But the six months became a year, one year became two years.  I started building seniority, I had a stable position, and I started loving my job,” chuckles Sheinoor.  “Its now like home to me.  Riverview is a great, great place to work.  Unfortunately it will be closing in June of 2012.”

Sheinoor admits that the closure will be hard on staff, many of whom have been there for many years.  “As much as I sometimes wish I could close my eyes and these problems would just go away, they are not going to.  People still don’t believe it.  It is really time to stick together.”

Sheinoor urges all workers to get involved and to voice their opinions.  “Don’t be passive, don’t be afraid to talk.  Anytime there is a problem, I know that I can come to my union office and they will work to fix it.  It gives workers another kind of confidence.”