Health care unions call for honest, frank collaboration from Ontario government regarding COVID-19 protection for health care workers

COVID-19, Health Care

Toronto – March 11, 2020: The Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA), the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU), the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) are calling for honest and frank collaboration with the Government of Ontario regarding guidelines for COVID-19 protection…

Durham Region paramedics highlight ambulance shortages and call for real investment in paramedic services

Health Care, Municipal, Solidarity

WHITBY, ON – The union representing paramedics in Durham is calling on regional political leadership to join forces in calling for a greater investment in emergency health services. CUPE Local 1764, which represents about 320 paramedics in Durham Region, recently shared with Durham Region councillors a report that definitively shows the disparity between call volume…

CUPE alerts community to rushed March closure of Hamilton forensic pathology, calls for independent inquiry

Health Care, Solidarity

HAMILTON, ON –The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 7800 has learned that Hamilton’s forensic pathology unit is closing hastily at the end of March, months earlier than the original proposed and controversial closure in July. The decision to end forensic autopsies at Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) is already riddled with “controversy, equivocations and contradictions…

Diverting bodies from Niagara down the QEW for autopsies in Toronto, “makes no sense”

Health Care, Solidarity, University

HAMILTON, ON – The union representing staff in pathology at Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) is calling on the provincial government to reconsider a recent decision to divert pathology cases from Niagara to Toronto, by-passing Hamilton. The move to shuttle forensic autopsies from Niagara to Toronto, is the latest in a series of controversial and questionable…

Ottawa and Ottawa Valley ParaMed staff say, “enough of low wages, exploitation”, begin workplace actions today

Health Care, Solidarity

OTTAWA, ON – More than 200 nurses, personal support workers (PSWs) and care dispatchers employed locally by ParaMed are among Ottawa’s and the Ottawa Valley’s lowest paid health care workers. But today (Monday, February 3, 2020) these predominantly female workers, represented by the Canadian Union of Public of Employees (CUPE) begin workplace actions to increase…