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 at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Toronto. This was their second day at the bargaining table, after meeting on December 6, when CUPE members working in HCCSS rejected the Ford Government’s initial offer – the same insulting wage increase they were offered today.
“We were excited to come back to the table and hear their counteroffer, but instead we feel disappointed and disrespected,” said Brett Geneau, CUPE HCCSS representative for the CUPE Health Care Workers’ Coordinating Committee (HCWCC). “Why did we come all this way if they were going to offer us the same increase? It’s a waste.”
HCCSS workers are made up of nurses, personal support workers, occupational and physiotherapists, care coordinators, IT, team assistants, and other administrative positions. They provide homecare for the elderly, children, and everyone in between. Access teams in HCCSS receive thousands of calls on a daily basis, and triage Ontarians who are leaving hospitals and make sure they have proper care at home, freeing up hospital beds that are desperately needed across the province.
“All we want is a fair offer,” said Maxine Laing, who works as an HCCSS Team Assistant and serves as the Unit Vice President for Mississauga Halton HCCSS, CUPE Local 966. “Over the 33 years I’ve worked in homecare, I’ve seen our wages become less and less, especially now. Workers in HCCSS are struggling to get by, to buy groceries and pay rent. This is unacceptable. Our wages need to reflect the valuable work we do. And we need a wage increase now.”
Last week CUPE members working in HCCSS presented a petition with over 1,700 signatures to two NDP MPPs at Queens Park, insisting that the Ford Government come to the table with a fair wage increase. “Obviously the Ford Government doesn’t care about homecare and community workers,” said Laing. “We keep saying our members are struggling, and they keep ignoring us.”
The Progressive Conservative government recently set aside $5.4 billion in “contingency funding” for this fiscal year, which ends at the end of March. The Ford government must allocate a small portion of this funding to stop the wages of home and community care workers falling behind inflation and other health care workers. Anything less will only lead to home and community care falling further behind, at a time when there already is a capacity crisis in health care.
CUPE members working in HCCSS will protest outside the Ontario Treasury Board on Thursday morning to demand a fair wage increase from the Ford Government.
Who: A delegation of CUPE members working in Home and Community Care Support Service workers, including Brett Geneau, Representative of CUPE HCCSS workers on the CUPE Health Care Workers Coordinating Committee, and Maxine Laing, HCCSS Team Assistant and Unit Vice President for Mississauga Halton HCCSS, CUPE Local 966.
What: CUPE workers to protest at the Ontario Treasury Board Secretariat after they were offered an insulting wage increase by the Ford government.
When: Thursday, January 25 at 10:30 a.m.
Where: In front of the Ontario Treasury Board Secretariat, 99 Wellesley St. West, Toronto
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For more information, contact:
Shannon Carranco | CUPE Communications | [email protected] | 514-703-8358
