Nursing homes breaking the rules would see maximum fines doubled and the worst performers could face temporary takeovers under long-awaited legislation proposed in the wake of a pandemic that saw almost 4,000 vulnerable residents die. The bill, called the Fixing Long-Term Care Act, follows angry and anguished calls from families of loved ones in long-term…
TORONTO, ON – With this new Ontario Long Term Care Act, the Ontario government has missed an opportunity to enhance resident care by stabilizing the workforce with a guaranteed increase to full-time jobs and universal, across the board wage increases, says Candace Rennick, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario, secretary-treasurer. “Equally egregious is not…
“It’s like the antithesis of what working for workers would be,” says Fred Hahn, President of CUPE Ontario. He goes on to add “it doesn’t say there’s going to be a law; it doesn’t say it’ll be equally applied for all workers; it doesn’t say that it’s actually going to be mandated!” … Hahn says…
TORONTO, ON – A recent announcement by the Ford government of targeted after-school recreation programs is a further distraction from the province’s failure to sign a child care deal, reports CUPE. Advocates urge Premier Ford to focus on making child care a right in the province by implementing $10-a-day child care and creating a workforce…
TORONTO, ON – Increasing violence directed at hospital staff is among factors driving the worsening staffing shortage in Ontario’s health sector, say two unions representing nearly 70,000 hospital workers province-wide. According to the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and SEIU Healthcare, the gravity of the situation was underscored this week with the Ministry of…
TORONTO, ON – The new bill, the Gender Affirming Health Care Advisory Committee Act, is an essential piece of legislation that will save lives and ensure that make access to health care more equitable for all. And now that it’s passed second reading, it’s time to push it over the finish line, refuse to delay…
TORONTO, ON – Responding to a recent letter from Premier Doug Ford asking for input, two of Ontario’s largest health care unions are urging him to move beyond the excuse of vaccination mandates and acknowledge the real reasons why there is a growing and critical shortage of nurses, personal support workers and other hospital staff…
Toronto, ON – The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care (OCBCC), and the Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario (AECEO) echo calls on Doug Ford to sign a bilateral child care agreement that puts decent work at its core and includes a moratorium on the expansion of for-profit…
October 21, 2021 is the 21st annual Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day. Each year the day is proclaimed by municipalities, school boards, and child care operators across Ontario. This year we will be celebrating Early Learning and Child Care Heroes for the vital work they do in our communities and their…
It’s been said so many times it’s become cliché: the pandemic exposed the deep inequities running through our communities from the local to the global. But unlike other clichés, this well-worn phrase must be recognized as an important truth, deserving attention and urgent action. Nineteen months into this crisis, and after multiple waves of this…
