Anyone who has been to a hospital lately has seen the long lineups, the jammed corridors and the harried staff.

We work under difficult conditions. Often, the work is physically taxing. Helping someone with limited mobility is difficult, but we do it every day.

We are regularly exposed to infection and other health risks most people would not tolerate on the job. Patients can become abusive. Equipment is in short supply. We have to make do with less.

Day after day, we are bombarded with subtle and not so subtle messages that our jobs are at risk. Entire hospital departments have been wiped out at the stroke of a pen. Imagine you're a 20-year employee given your walking papers so your job can be contracted out to a company paying barely more than minimum wage.

Imagine a management that spends thousands of dollars on legal and arbitration fees to fight an employee's claim for a hundred dollars in overtime. Imagine a place where you can be fired for parking in the wrong space. Imagine management that, unilaterally and without notice, radically changes everyone's shift schedule.

These are the kinds of problems we face and they are pervasive. We're dedicated to exposing the employee relations climate in Hamilton's hospitals, how it affects the health care services we provide, and what we can do about it.

The role that members of Local 4800 play in delivering quality health care services is quickly apparent when a patient works with one of our nursing, technical or environmental classifications.

It might not seem immediately obvious that someone who repairs the heating system or serves meals also has a great deal to do with patient health. But the reality is that it takes a wide-ranging array of talents to keep our team working for the best health care that can be offered.

CUPE Local 4800 represents members involved in every aspect of health care delivery, from nurses to cafeteria workers, from lab technicians to janitorial staff.

In these days of thin resources stretched to the breaking point, Local 4800 believes a team-based approach will be the most effective in delivering better health care for the community. We owe it to the people we care for and work with to make our hospitals places where we can concentrate on patient care first and foremost.

Too often, it's easy for us to take for granted the dedication and professionalism of health care workers. Then a crisis arises, and we find out just how important their work is to our safety and well-being.

That's just what happened when southern Ontario was stricken with the SARS outbreak.

CUPE members were on the front line, battling a frightening and unpredictable microscopic enemy. They took enormous risks to ensure the containment of the virus, to ease the fear that gripped the community, and to continue the important work they do every day.

In fact, more than a year later, there are CUPE members who are still suffering from the after-effects of their exposure to the deadly virus.

Let's face it - health care workers were heroes.

When the community was threatened, CUPE members came through, and kept their heads amidst the fear and uncertainty of the crisis.

It's just one more reason why they deserve our respect.