CMAJ study showing lower income people have less access to for-profit cataract surgeries must force a reconsideration of policy, says hospital union

TORONTO – In response to new research showing that wealthy Ontarians are disproportionately benefiting from for-profit clinics, CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions is demanding the province halt public funding for private surgeries and invest in cataracts provided by public hospitals. A study by the Canadian Medical Associations Journal released yesterday says that surgical rates…

Joint statement: Ford must base safe injection site policy on the evidence

Workers ask the Premier to base public policy on evidence and continue saving lives Every Ontarian deserves low-barrier access to mental health and addictions services in their community. These services must include life-saving harm reduction spaces that are well-funded and professionally administered and allow for the safe consumption and treatment in places across the province…

“Premier’s callous response to hospital crisis stark contrast to the suffering of patients and staff:” says OCHU/CUPE at launch of new peer-reviewed study heralding warning for Ontario

TORONTO – The Premier’s recent comments in the media shows “a callous attitude” towards the hospital crisis, where overcrowding has increased by 30 percent since 2018, said Michael Hurley, president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU-CUPE), referring to Doug Ford’s gaffe about overflow patients having the option of receiving treatment at a new…

“I loved going to work when I first started. Now I dread it:” new study warns that Ontario’s hospital staffing crisis will worsen as morale plummets

TORONTO – A new peer-reviewed study released today in Toronto warns that Ontario’s hospital workers, most of whom are women and many racialized, are in deep turmoil as they labour through an intensifying staffing crisis that is harming their well-being and compromising patient care. Running on Empty, published in New Solutions: A Journal of Environmental…

Frustrated by nearly two years of bargaining, workers at Kinark Child and Family Services vote to authorize strike

PETERBOROUGH, ON – For years, young people languishing on waitlists have known that all is not right at Kinark Child and Family Services; workers, too, have felt the burden of growing caseloads and shrinking resources. Now, with a resounding strike vote, everyone who cares about the well-being of children and families in Peterborough and Northumberland…