TORONTO, ON. – Even before the new COVID-19 variants hit Ontario, health care worker infections were dangerously high, doubling in the last three months to over 16,000, the Ontario government’s own data shows. In 2020 for the first 10 months of the pandemic to October 23, 7,488 health care staff contracted COVID-19 at work. In…
TORONTO, ON – CUPE leaders expressed shock but not surprise at the findings in the Toronto Star’s investigation into the ‘watered down’ strategies that the Ontario government used to keep COVID-19 out of schools. Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU), gave the following comment: Thanks to the Star’s investigation,…
TORONTO, ON – Provincial restrictions must immediately allow exemptions for people with disabilities wishing to use indoor municipal facilities for physical therapy or rehabilitation, says the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario. “More than ever, people with disabilities have been treated like an after thought,” said Peter Stapper, Chair of CUPE Ontario’s Workers with…
Workers ask the Ford government to extend paid sick leave for all employees who get COVID-19. Watch the full story here.
CUPE Ontario president Fred Hahn talks about what needs to be done for workers without paid sick leave. Watch the full interview on CTV Ottawa here.
KINGSTON, ON – Staff morale is low – stress high at Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC), nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) said today. Following months of gruelling long hours, critical staff shortages and an environment where there is no pay for staff who have to isolate…
TORONTO, ON – Housing and respite workers at the St. Felix Centre in Toronto are the newest members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). Today the Ontario Labour Relations Board certified that the 155 workers are officially CUPE members, following a near-unanimous vote that ended January 12. The St. Felix Centre provides supports…
WATERLOO, ON – Region of Waterloo paramedics are being denied WSIB claims after contracting COVID-19, a move that the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) believes is being enabled by the Ford Government’s unwillingness to hold employers accountable for workplace outbreaks. “Having fallen ill with COVID-19 from working was scary enough,” said one Region of…
TORONTO, ON – Even in the current emergency shutdown in Ontario, thousands of students continue to go to school and continue to be supported by education workers. To protect everyone’s health and safety, the union that represents 55,000 education workers is calling on the provincial government to implement some straightforward measures that will lower the…
Today, we remember the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and honour his teachings by weaving the struggle for racial and economic justice into all our work as a union. Our annual commemoration of King’s legacy comes at an important crossroads in history. As it stands the world is gripped by twin pandemics—not only COVID-19,…
