Exposure to COVID-19 is a non-negotiable fact of life for many immigrant and visible minority residents in Ottawa. Take a look at the pandemic-era essential workforce: those supporting the food supply chain, providing taxi or ride-share services, or caring for residents in long-term care homes. Every day, Abiola Tijani goes into work knowing that his…
The union representing nearly 300,000 public and essential employees including personal support workers in Ontario’s long-term care homes, says members can’t afford to stay home. Physical distancing won’t pay the bills. And it’s also not always possible. Fred Hahn, President of CUPE Ontario says: “People have to stitch together two and three jobs just to…
There are increasing calls for the Ontario government to declare anti-Black racism a public health crisis. “Anti-Black racism has undeniably harmful effects on Black Ontarians,” CUPE Ontario president Fred Hahn said in a statement on Wednesday. “We need to name what happens to Black people when it comes to policing, workplace discrimination, the stress it…
One of the largest unions in the province is calling on the Ontario government to declare anti-Black racism a public health crisis. The Ontario division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents 270,000 employees in the province, said it is joining a coalition of Black community health leaders, including Alliance for Healthier Communities,…
“Ontario’s for-profit nursing homes employ, on average, 17 per cent fewer full-time and part-time workers compared to non-profit and municipal homes, according to a Star analysis of union staffing data. “It’s not surprising at all,” said Candace Rennick, a spokesperson for the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents workers in 182 long-term-care homes…
Candace Rennick, Secretary-Treasurer of CUPE Ontario and a former PSW in a long-term care home, said the death is maddening because more could be done to protect front-line workers doing the most dangerous jobs during the pandemic. “People have been asking for greater levels of protection, more funding and more staff. The government just continues…
“People are afraid to even ask for the supplies to help keep them safe.” Click here to watch this clip of Candace Rennick, Secretary-Treasurer of CUPE Ontario, discussing the dire conditions in our LTC homes and the obstacles members are facing to safely deliver the services Ontarians need.
Listen in to Candace Rennick offer our union’s reaction and corroborate the devastating report by the Canadian Armed Forces of appalling conditions in some of the province’s long term-care facilities on CBC’s morning show. Click here to listen.
CUPE Ontario Secretary-Treasurer Candace Rennick weighs in on why why it took a military report to get action when long-term care advocates have been demanding a new standard of care for years on CBC Radio’s Metro Morning. Listen here.
At the 3:45 mark, CUPE Ontario Secretary-Treasurer Candace Rennick shares our union’s anguish and frustration with the situation in long-term care: “We’ve been ringing the alarm bells about the conditions in long-term care homes for over a decade. Our concerns have been ignored and dismissed and no action has been taken on the realities we…
