PETERBOROUGH, ON — CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn says the Peterborough Regional Health Centre is obligated to take a much more active part in the talks between its food contractor and the staff working in retail food operations at the hospital. Hahn will be in Peterborough at a media conference on Tuesday, July 12, 2016 at 10:30 a.m. at the Hospital Drive north entrance of the Peterborough hospital.
Recent polling showed overwhelming support in the Peterborough community for the hospital to lead in providing jobs that pay fair wages.
“The hospital should not allow one of its contractors to pay poverty level wages as a way to escape these obligations. The poll shows that the citizens of Peterborough, who fund many of the hospital’s capital projects, expect better of them. The hospital must intervene. We are calling on the hospital to step actively into these talks,” says Fred Hahn president of CUPE Ontario, which represents 250,000 unionized employees working in public services in Ontario.
30 food service staff, the great majority of them women are represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 1943.1. In current negotiations with Compass they are asking for a modest wage increase to their current wage of $11.64 an hour. The next day of scheduled negotiations with Compass is on July 13 and a lockout or strike is possible as of midnight, July 15.
“Our members who work for Compass are doing the same work and earning half as much as the hospital’s own staff. The wage increase they are seeking is very modest. At the end of the day the hospital has to take responsibility and step in,” says Laurie Hatton the president of Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 1943 that represents over 500 Peterborough hospital employees including the 30 retail food service staff employed by Compass.
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For more information please contact:
Fred Hahn President, CUPE Ontario 416-540-3979
Laurie Hatton President CUPE 1943 705-933-6629
Stella Yeadon CUPE Communications 416-559-9300
