Hospital plans to keep staff exposed to COVID working while awaiting test results are dangerous for patients

TORONTO, ON – Warnings from Ontario’s health care front-lines of staff shortages and inadequate personal protective equipment to deal with airborne infection went unheeded for nearly 20 months by the provincial government.  “Now the staffing crisis is so severe at some hospitals that they require staff directly exposed to COVID to work while awaiting test…

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“We must close the gap between our rights and our reality”: CUPE Ontario’s statement on International Human Rights Day

Today, CUPE Ontario joins people around the world in celebrating International Human Rights Day. Seventy-three years ago today, on December 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a document that set the foundation for universal basic human rights. From its inception, the UDHR was a…

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Image shows the CEO of Oxford Properties, a subsidiary of Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System, stands beside a model of Hudson Yards, of which it owns 50 percent.

Ontario’s Pension Fund Managers Are Propping up the Fossil Fuel and Real Estate Industries

The Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System (OMERS) is one of Canada’s largest pension funds. Serving 289,000 municipal workers employed by cities across Ontario, OMERS has net assets of over $105 billion that are intended to support members in their retirement. This year, however, has seen OMERS swamped by numerous scandals. It is currently in the…

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It’s time to respond to the concerning COVID-19 modelling with comprehensive action, CUPE Ontario

TORONTO, ON – Despite the increase in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and ICU admissions predicted by the Science Advisory Table, the Ford Conservatives are still failing to take comprehensive action to fight the pandemic, said the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario. “Ontarians are tired of this seemingly unending COVID cycle that the Ford Conservatives…

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More money, more staff, safer classrooms: CUPE school board leaders set bargaining priorities for 2022

TORONTO, ON – Reacting to wrenching reports of classroom violence, pressures created by understaffing, and the human cost of low wages and precarious work, school board leaders from the Canadian Union Public Employees (CUPE) have determined that better wages and working conditions for education workers will be the focus of their next round of central…

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Ontario government’s erratic, ad hoc approach to the health workforce will mean a shortage of more than 50,000 nurses and personal support workers

TORONTO, ON – With health care job vacancies skyrocketing, new long-term care beds and a provincial government fond of “Band-Aid” health workforce approaches, Ontarians will see unprecedented health care staff shortages of more than 50,000 workers over the next few years. More than 59,000 new registered practical nurses (RPNs), personal support workers (PSWs) and registered…

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“Drop the charges and stop the racist violence”: CUPE Ontario’s statement in solidarity with Hamilton’s Black youth housing activists

For about an hour during the afternoon of November 24 at Hamilton’s J.C. Beemer Park, police officers violently attacked allies of its unhoused residents who were encamped there. Two Black youth were punched in the face, another dragged through the grass; officers planted their knees on necks, and employed chokeholds. “Don’t let them say it…

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“No one will be singled out or scapegoated”: CUPE Ontario’s statement for the International Day for Disabled Persons

On December 3, CUPE Ontario’s 280,000 members mark the International Day for Disabled Persons with the recognition of the moment we’re in. With cases still ticking upwards in Ontario, and variants of concern rapidly spreading around the world, it’s more critical than ever that we acknowledge that it’s people with disabilities who are among the…

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