“We can avoid a strike or lockout with a good deal”: CUPE Local 53 Town of Whitby workers fight harmful concessions ahead of strike deadline

Whitby, ON – Town of Whitby municipal workers are trying to avert a looming strike or lockout by ramping up efforts to warn about harmful concessions, says CUPE Local 53. “Instead of giving us a good explanation for why the employer needs full control to make members work an indefinite number of temporary assignments and…

“We need to recruit and retain workers now”: CUPE Local 4911 calls on Peterborough Paramedic Service to come back with a better offer in bargaining

(Peterborough, ON) – What the Peterborough County/City Paramedics is proposing to paramedics in negotiations isn’t good enough and that’s why negotiations have broken down, says the union representing them, CUPE Local 4911. “Staffing at the Peterborough County/City Paramedics has become a real problem,” says Natalie Waters, President of the CUPE Local 4911. “There are many…

“Not good enough – we demand better”: CUPE Ontario statement on Doug Ford’s Greenbelt U-turn

The deep corruption that has characterized Ford’s PCs from Day 1 has caught up with them again; the provincial government’s downward spiral was on clear display as Doug Ford announced the reversal of the ill-fated Greenbelt selloff. But Premier Ford’s pronouncements in his news conference fall short of what’s really needed. If he is indeed…

Bradford West Gwillimbury Mayor Leduc calls in police to intimidate striking library workers

(Bradford, ON) – After 61 days on the picket line, Bradford West Gwillimbury Library workers and residents weren’t going to be silenced, said CUPE Local 905. “Open the library!” chanted supportive residents and workers when Mayor James Leduc tried to cut the number of speakers during Council’s Open Forum on Tuesday, September 19, even taking…

“Ignoring the obvious”: CUPE Ontario and HCWCC joint statement on the Ontario Ombudsman’s LTC report and for-profit care homes

CUPE Ontario and the Health Care Workers Coordinating Committee (HCWCC) have examined the Ontario Ombudsman’s report, Lessons for the Long Term. The report describes, in devastating detail, the failure of the Ford Conservatives to provide adequate oversight of long-term care homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the report shows, the province’s inspection system was already under…

Transphobic Bigots Vandalize Education Workers’ Union Offices in London

CUPE education workers are committed to stopping hate, misinformation, and transphobia; call on school boards, premier, and education minister to denounce attacks on students’ right to education and support fundamental freedom not to be discriminated against. LONDON, ON – Last night, all three frontline education workers’ local union offices in London were vandalized by transphobic…

“From heroes to nothing”: Regency Park Long-Term Care issues layoff notices to seven workers

WINDSOR, ON – UniversalCare has sent layoff notices to seven staff at the Regency Park Long-Term Care Home, one of Windsor’s only long-term care homes in the downtown core. As long-term care (LTC) homes across Ontario struggle with staffing shortages, UniversalCare has cited ‘budget issues’ as their reasoning for laying off staff. The LTC workers…

“Don’t risk lives by outsourcing our work”: CUPE Local 1842 paramedics call on Hastings County Council to keep lift assistance work in their hands

BELLEVILLE, ON – A proposal to transfer lift assistance work out of the hands of paramedics was discussed at Hastings County Council and needs to be opposed, said CUPE Local 1842. “Paramedics are the ones who know how to determine if someone’s hurt and can properly attend to them if they are,” said Rob Cunningham,…