TORONTO, ON – On Saturday, after Ontario Minister of Health Christine Elliot announced that personal protective equipment (PPE) it was readily available, 87 per cent of health care staff polled by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) reported that they do not have access to the PPE they need to deal with COVID-19 patients.…
On Friday, March 13, the Town of Whitby laid off 210 part-time staff, members of CUPE Local 53. Unlike neighbouring municipalities, like Pickering, Clarington, Uxbridge, and Ajax, where city workers were paid for between two and three weeks when layoffs were still considered temporary, Whitby’s part-time workers were left with no compensation. “If the town provided the three-weeks worth of wages, it would give us the opportunity to…
TORONTO, ON – The fight against the spread of COVID-19 hinges on Ontario hospital and long-term care, home care workers and paramedics not contracting the virus in large numbers, so that they can care for the sick across the province. But already dozens of health care staff have COVID-19. This includes one who is very ill…
(TORONTO, ON) CUPE Ontario, the province’s largest union, says the Conservative government’s economic update today missed an opportunity to provide immediate and direct financial support for thousands hurting due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to adequately increase health care funding. “People are worried about rent and mortgages, about putting food on the table, and about…
(TORONTO, ON) CUPE Ontario, the province’s largest union, has announced proposals to help Ontarians who are financially impacted because of the COVID-19 pandemic. With reports of wide-spread layoffs and income loss, the union has called on the Ontario government to include significant measures in the economic and fiscal update that’s scheduled for Wednesday. The union…
TORONTO, ON – It is profoundly unfair to a dedicated mostly female hospital workforce who due to the lack of protective masks, face shields and other equipment are already in harms way and greater risk of COVID-19 infection that the Ontario government gives itself broad powers to take away their workplace rights, says Michael Hurley…
TORONTO — More than 2400 hospital staff took part Saturday in an urgent Ontario-wide conference call sponsored by the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) focused on the impact of COVID-19 on them as they care for the sick. Throughout the information-based call, several key questions were posed to the hospital workers. When asked if…
Access to safe drinking water is a right many of us take for granted. But contaminated water and a lack of adequate sanitation in Ontario’s First Nations communities jeopardize the health and well-being of thousands of indigenous people. 62 First Nations communities across the province are currently on boil water or do not consume advisories. CUPE…
On March 21st we observe the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It marks the anniversary of the 1960 massacre of 69 peaceful Black demonstrators in Sharpeville, South Africa by the apartheid regime. Its contemporary importance in Canada is underscored by the struggle of the Wet’sutwet’en to defend their traditional territories from state…
(TORONTO, ON) CUPE Ontario, representing 280,000 public sector workers, responded to the passage of legislation providing unpaid job-protected leave for Ontarians impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic by calling for workers to remain on payrolls over the course of the crisis. Where that is not possible, the union is calling on the province to assist employers…
