As strike at Canadian Hearing Services continues, Deaf Toronto residents have trouble accessing Sign language interpreting services

Toronto, ON – With the strike at Canadian Hearing Services (CHS) now in it’s third week, Deaf, Deafblind, and hard of hearing Greater Toronto Area residents are seeing critical services impacted and denied. The 206 members of CUPE 2073 who work at CHS as Sign language interpreters, employment consultants, Deafblind intervenors, and in other frontline…

New study reveals Ontario spent $9.2 billion on for-profit staffing agencies over 10 years, blames crisis on underinvestment in hospitals and preventative health care

The CCPA report is the first investigation into Ontario hospital spending on private agency staff relative to employed staff TORONTO – A new research report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives recommends Ontario make significant increases in hospital funding while phasing out costly for-profit staffing agencies and making investments in preventative health care. The…

Chaos, frustration, secrecy, overwork plague Ford’s Ontario Health atHome system changes, say more than 1000 front-line voices in recent survey

TORONTO – A recent survey of Ontario Health atHome (OH atHome) community and in-home care coordinators, team assistants and system planners, represented by CUPE points to a health system restructuring that is failing to solve care and access gaps while deepening health service privatization. All these factors are further demoralizing staff who are dealing with…

Tories must ban staffing agencies, not simply legislate data collection of administrative and billing information

Union wants comprehensive staffing plan premised on fair compensation, good working conditions and a long-term recruitment strategy Toronto – The Canadian Union of Public Employees is urging the provincial government to ban the use of agency staff in Ontario’s healthcare system. This call follows the introduction of new legislation by the Ford government which the…

Giant Trojan Horse visits Queen’s Park as OCHU-CUPE and Ontario Health Coalition protest privatization of hospital services

In response to the government’s plan to issue new licenses to for-profit clinics this fall, OCHU and OHC are demanding that money be invested in public hospitals instead TORONTO – Symbolizing the threat of the plan to privatize hospital surgeries, a 15-foot replica of the Trojan Horse visited legislators at Queen’s Park today. The metaphor…

Underfunding, understaffing and better services for residents behind 92% strike vote at CUPE South Riverdale Community Health Centre

TORONTO – Health and social workers who are passionate about the outreach services they provide to residents of South Riverdale have sent an unmistakable signal that they are no longer prepared to tolerate the harmful effects of severe underfunding and understaffing at South Riverdale Community Health Centre (SRCHC). On Tuesday, members of CUPE 5399, which represents over 120…

No respite for Ontario patients: new report says five times more hospital beds needed than planned by Ford government

New analysis shows province faces a 13,800 shortfall of hospital beds by 2032 Ontario’s hospital capacity crisis will worsen in the coming years as government funding will fall short of even maintaining current levels of service, according to a new research report produced by CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE). Citing latest data on…