CUPE calls for the immediate addition of 120 hospital staff at Sudbury’s HSN to deal with fall/winter COVID wave and flu season

SUDBURY, ON – Today, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) called for the immediate addition of 120 full-time staff at Sudbury’s Health Sciences North (HSN) to deal with higher patient volumes from this fall and winter’s COVID-19 wave and the coming flu season. This is on top of to the hundreds more staff needed…

“We can make life in Ontario affordable”: CUPE Ontario’s statement on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

Every single one of us knows the moment we’re in, all too well. The cost of living is skyrocketing and our wages simply aren’t keeping up. We know it because it’s splashed on the front pages of every major newspaper. Because more and more workers are visiting food banks. Because our neighbours can’t pay rent.…

Education Workers to Enter Mediation in Pursuit of Student Success and Good Jobs

TORONTO, ON – The central bargaining committee for Ontario’s lowest-paid frontline education workers will enter into mediation with the Ontario government and Council of Trustees’ Association (CTA) on October 17. Respected mediator William Kaplan, who helped this group of workers and the Ford government reach a settlement in 2019, will assist the parties as they…

Durham education workers near unanimous in strike vote amid stalled local talks

WHITBY, ON – While two Durham-area school boards turn to unqualified staff to fill vacancies, education workers are united in their fight to improve schools, better serve students, and secure good jobs. Members of CUPE Local 218, representing 4000 education workers, participated in an historic strike vote alongside their 51,000 coworkers across the province. An…

“From every sector in our union: Solidarity!” CUPE Ontario sends a message of unity to OSBCU

Members of CUPE Ontario working in healthcare, municipalities, universities, and in social services have always known the value of education workers. The 55,000 members of CUPE’s Ontario School Boards Council of Unions (OSBCU) – custodians, maintenance and library workers, secretaries, early childhood educators, educational assistants, IT professionals – working in publicly-funded schools across Ontario are…

Education workers, still at bargaining table, request ‘no board’ to reach deal for student success and good jobs

Toronto, ON – Ontario’s lowest-paid education workers remain united in their fight for student success and good jobs. Education workers’ central bargaining committee returned to the table yesterday expecting to see movement that would address the workers’ twin goals of better pay and better services. On Monday, the results of education workers’ historic strike vote…

CUPE 543 Windsor city workers to deliver Thanksgiving dinners today in partnership with Windsor-Essex food bank association

WINDSOR, ON – CUPE 543 city workers will be distributing gift hampers to individuals and families in need in Windsor this morning as part of a charity drive in partnership with the Windsor-Essex Food Bank Association. The hampers were packed by municipal workers commemorating the ninth year of an initiative they call ‘Operation Giveback.’ “Operation…

Justice Symbol

Human rights tribunal upholds unionized workers’ right to file claims in Ontario

Lawyers and advocates were concerned — especially for marginalized people — that unionized workers would lose access to the human rights tribunal. Unionized workers in Ontario will still be able to file complaints independently at the province’s human rights tribunal, the tribunal has determined, despite a recent Supreme Court of Canada decision that limits access…

Northwestern Ontario hospitals need to hire 150 more staff each year to deal with increased patient needs and rising paramedic offload delays

KENORA, ON – Unless hospitals in northwestern Ontario hire 150 more staff (yearly), problems with spiking emergency room wait times and unprecedented staffing shortages will deepen as the population ages, said the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) at a media conference in Kenora today. CUPE based its call for the 150 new hospital staff…