TORONTO—Doug Ford has once again put Ontario homecare patients last. His announcement on Friday of a hiring freeze for all crown agencies in Ontario, will exacerbate the ongoing workload and staffing shortages being experienced in Ontario’s healthcare system. The hiring freeze comes into effect on the 27th, with the government’s press release stating they will…
TORONTO – On Wednesday morning, a delegation representing 1,600 CUPE members working in Home and Community Care Support Services (HCCSS) were offered an insulting wage increase at the bargaining table by the Ontario Treasury Board and the Ford Government. Over thirty members working in HCCSS travelled from across Ontario to bargain a fair wage reopener…
Windsor, ON – On Friday, CUPE workers from across the province will rally at the Regency Park Long-Term Care home in solidarity with seven long-term care staff who received layoff notices from the for-profit home operated by Universal Care. The seven staff include two dietary aides, three personal support workers, one registered nurse, and one…
A new analysis warns of a deeper crisis if the Ford government sticks to its woefully insufficient plan and does not invest in improving hospital staffing and capacity levels Kingston, ON – The crisis in the province’s hospital sector will only worsen over the next four years, unless Ontario makes significant investments to improve staffing…
TORONTO, ON – Long-term care staffing in Ontario remains far below pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. The gravity of the staffing shortage requires a substantive and comprehensive recruitment, training and retention workforce strategy, say health care unions representing approximately 70,000 personal support workers (PSWs). Today’s announcement is a step in the right direction from what was announced…
PETERBOROUGH, ON – A fruitful day of mediation on Monday, June 10 has resulted in a new tentative collective agreement between home care and other health staff who are members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 4419 and the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) Peterborough/Victoria/Haliburton. “That the two parties have reached a tentative…
PETERBOROUGH, ON – 120 low-waged personal support workers and other home care staff with the area Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) are drawing the line in the sand and taking a stand against their low pay. Many people in Peterborough, Lindsay and Haliburton are behind them. A community rally is planned for Wednesday, June 5,…
PETERBOROUGH, ON – The Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) is one Peterborough’s oldest community care providers. “Unfortunately, corporate, VON Canada, who aren’t local, are also the epitome of an exploitative employer, already paying low wages and refusing to give a decent raise. These home care workers are the face of low-waged labour,” says Amanda Wells,…
TORONTO, ON –Two new reports are being released concurrently that expose the high level of violence, abuse and harassment against staff employed in Ontario’s long-term care homes. An in-depth, peer-reviewed investigative study on violence against staff in Ontario long-term care homes has just been published. The study, titled “Breaking Point: Violence Against Long-term Care Staff,”…
KINGSTON, ON – Fear of losing patient care hours and reprisals from employers is silencing a vulnerable – mostly female – home care workforce from speaking out about their working conditions and low wages, and the safety risks they face working alone in peoples’ homes, including violence, say organizers of a Kingston-based community project. Kingston…
