NAPE says NLHS is shifting medical transcription services to AI, affecting some 80 positions across the province.

While the union has a “no layoff” contract with government, that’s cold comfort for the workers involved.

President Jerry Earle says medical transcription is highly specialized work, carried out primarily by women who work from home.

He says the health authority is indicating that the workers affected will be shifted to other positions, but the list of positions is not yet available, and when it is, the workers will have 48 hours to make a decision.

That’s going to prove very difficult for affected employees, many of whom have been working for decades.

“There’s a number of life-altering factors that have to be taken into account here,” says Earle. He cites one woman in rural Newfoundland who chose medical transcription because it suits her situation.

She and her partner both work, but they only own one vehicle. Now she’s learning that she may have to drive 90 km to a health care facility in order to maintain a job and “right off the bat, they’re going to need a second vehicle.”