World Mental Health Day

  Today is World Mental Health Day, observed on October 10 each year to encourage mental health awareness, education, and advocacy against social stigma. Today is an opportunity to thank CUPE members working on the front lines as social service workers delivering mental health recovery and wellness programs that benefit thousands of Ontarians. It is…

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Hospital’s closing century-old laundry and killing jobs is out of step with municipal candidates’ push to boost local economy

  PEMBROKE, ON – Candidates vying for seats in the coming municipal election who are talking up local economic development and jobs are on the right page, say staff trying to keep the area hospital from closing the in-house laundry and axing five full-time local jobs. However, they add, the Pembroke Regional Hospital is remarkably…

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PC cuts to hospital surge beds follows cuts to mental health and addictions: PC health policy becomes clear despite attempt to dress bed cuts as new beds

  TORONTO, ON – As Ontario’s already overcrowded hospitals hit the fall flu season, a PC government announcement that slashes surge beds and funding by more than half, is “deceptive, misleading and very concerning,” says Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions. Last winter, the predecessor Liberals announced $187 million for 2018-2019…

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Orange Shirt Day

September 30 is Orange Shirt Day, which raises awareness about the residential school system and its traumatic, inter-generational impact on Indigenous peoples in Canada. On this day, we reflect on the legacy of residential schools, which were the primary instrument in a policy of cultural genocide instituted by the Canadian government. Orange Shirt Day was…

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PCs’ guns for hire report makes it more certain that at least 3,500 Ontario hospital beds and 16,500 staff will be cut

  TORONTO, ON – Far from delivering a “line-by-line” accounting of provincial funding, the PC government’s $500,000 Ernst and Young (EY) report on the province’s finances “is gun for hire advocacy for downsizing public services, the sale of profitable provincial assets, user fees, means testing and increased privatization,” says Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario…

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Ford’s line-by-line spending review is a misleading strategy to privatize health care, gut public services and increase costs for Ontarians

TORONTO, ON – The Ford government’s spending review that uses numbers, taken out of context, to justify their plan for massive cuts and privatization, will make life much more difficult and expensive for working people and their families, says Fred Hahn, President of CUPE Ontario. In the report released Tuesday, corporate financial advisors Ernst &…

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Far from ending hallway medicine, London stands to lose 183 more hospital beds, more than 1,025 staff under Ford programs

  LONDON, ON – Already funded and staffed at levels well below other provinces, Ontario’s hospitals’ hallway medicine and bed crisis will deepen under Premier Doug Ford’s public service “efficiency” program and promised tax cuts, the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) warned today in London. OCHU, the hospital division of the Canadian Union of…

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