TORONTO, ON – The union representing most Ontario paramedics is calling on the provincial government to address mental health of emergency medical services staff amidst gruelling working conditions through the pandemic. “Paramedics and dispatchers have struggled with heavy workloads for years. But the sharp increase in call volumes and lengthier offload delays at hospitals during…
TORONTO, ON – Education workers are demanding that the Ford government come up with a plan that ensures custodians, education assistants (EAs), school secretaries and others are able to stay on the job once schools reopen next week, says the union that represents 55,000 education workers in Ontario. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)…
WATERLOO, ON – Waterloo Regional Council’s short-sighted decision to close five children’s centres, that provided care to more than 250 families in the region and employed more than 50 child care and early learning workers, may leave some families and frontline workers without access to emergency child care as the Omicron surge proliferates the child…
TORONTO, ON – With the Ford Conservatives refusing to listen to the experts, driving us into yet another avoidable lockdown, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario has renewed its call for measures to keep Ontarians safe and supported. “This feels like the plot of that movie Don’t Look Up, where the political leaders…
Hamilton, ON — Showing that their giving extends beyond the hospital walls and their challenging pandemic work, registered practical nurses, personal support workers, trades, and clerical, among others at Hamilton’s St. Joseph Health Care Centre are donating $14,000 to local community groups and charities this holiday season. It is the third consecutive year that CUPE…
TORONTO, ON – Warnings from Ontario’s health care front-lines of staff shortages and inadequate personal protective equipment to deal with airborne infection went unheeded for nearly 20 months by the provincial government. “Now the staffing crisis is so severe at some hospitals that they require staff directly exposed to COVID to work while awaiting test…
Today, CUPE Ontario joins people around the world in celebrating International Human Rights Day. Seventy-three years ago today, on December 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a document that set the foundation for universal basic human rights. From its inception, the UDHR was a…
TORONTO, ON – Reacting to wrenching reports of classroom violence, pressures created by understaffing, and the human cost of low wages and precarious work, school board leaders from the Canadian Union Public Employees (CUPE) have determined that better wages and working conditions for education workers will be the focus of their next round of central…
TORONTO, ON – With health care job vacancies skyrocketing, new long-term care beds and a provincial government fond of “Band-Aid” health workforce approaches, Ontarians will see unprecedented health care staff shortages of more than 50,000 workers over the next few years. More than 59,000 new registered practical nurses (RPNs), personal support workers (PSWs) and registered…
On December 6, CUPE Ontario’s 280,000 members mark the National Day of Remembrance and Action for Violence Against Women. This day of remembrance began in recognition of the fourteen women who were killed and the ten who were injured at École Polytechnique in 1989, but today we also reckon with the fact that the deep…
