Planned staffing review at Hamilton Health Sciences will lead to cuts, warns CUPE, as hospital deficit mounts due to government underfunding

OCHU, Solidarity

The Ford government has committed to covering only a fraction of hospital’s operating costs Hamilton, ON – The union representing about 4,750 staff at Hamilton Health Sciences is alarmed about the hospital’s staffing review in light of a $112 million projected deficit for 2024. The provincial government’s lack of commitment to covering full operating costs…

“This is why we are retiring in poverty:” Health care workers slam SickKids for choosing not to pay into pension plan for 26th year

OCHU, Solidarity

Toronto, ON – Health-care workers at SickKids Hospital in Toronto are outraged by their employer’s recent announcement that it will continue its “pension holiday” rather than improve retirement benefits for its staff. Last week, SickKids announced that it will not be paying into the staff pension plan for yet another year – it has only…

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

Health Care, OCHU, Solidarity

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…

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

Health Care, OCHU, Solidarity

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…

CMAJ study showing lower income people have less access to for-profit cataract surgeries must force a reconsideration of policy, says hospital union

Health Care, OCHU, Solidarity

TORONTO – In response to new research showing that wealthy Ontarians are disproportionately benefiting from for-profit clinics, CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions is demanding the province halt public funding for private surgeries and invest in cataracts provided by public hospitals. A study by the Canadian Medical Associations Journal released yesterday says that surgical rates…

“Premier’s callous response to hospital crisis stark contrast to the suffering of patients and staff:” says OCHU/CUPE at launch of new peer-reviewed study heralding warning for Ontario

Health Care, OCHU, Solidarity

TORONTO – The Premier’s recent comments in the media shows “a callous attitude” towards the hospital crisis, where overcrowding has increased by 30 percent since 2018, said Michael Hurley, president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU-CUPE), referring to Doug Ford’s gaffe about overflow patients having the option of receiving treatment at a new…

“I loved going to work when I first started. Now I dread it:” new study warns that Ontario’s hospital staffing crisis will worsen as morale plummets

OCHU, Solidarity

TORONTO – A new peer-reviewed study released today in Toronto warns that Ontario’s hospital workers, most of whom are women and many racialized, are in deep turmoil as they labour through an intensifying staffing crisis that is harming their well-being and compromising patient care. Running on Empty, published in New Solutions: A Journal of Environmental…

Hospital workers demonstrate at Peterborough MPP’s office against government’s expansion of private, for-profit hospital services

Municipal, OCHU, Solidarity

While the Ford government plans to double private delivery of MRIs and CT scans, OCHU/CUPE says underused hospital operating rooms should be better utilized   PETERBOROUGH, ON – Hospital workers protested the Ford government’s rapid expansion of healthcare privatization outside Ontario PC MPP Dave Smith’s constituency office in Peterborough this morning. In June, the government…

Hospital workers demonstrate at Pickering MPP’s office against government’s expansion of private, for-profit hospital services

Health Care, Municipal, OCHU, Solidarity

While the Ford government plans to double private delivery of MRIs and CT scans, OCHU/CUPE says underused hospital operating rooms should be better utilized   PICKERING, ON – Hospital workers protested the Ford government’s rapid expansion of healthcare privatization outside Ontario PC MPP Peter Bethlenfalvy’s constituency office in Pickering this morning. In June, the government…