“Mid-year results don’t paint the whole picture”: CUPE Ontario says first-ever report should not distract from call for an independent review of OMERS

COVID-19, Fix OMERS, Municipal

TORONTO, ON – A first-ever mid-year report by the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) can’t draw attention away from the systemic underperformance of OMERS investment returns, says the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario. “Just like a single cold day doesn’t mean temperatures aren’t rising, half a year of investment returns tells us…

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A hospital worker holds a colourful paper sign that reads "Respect Us; Protect Us; Pay Us" at an outdoor rally.

Trillium Hospital Workers Protest Thursday to Fight Wage Cuts and Concessions

COVID-19 media stories, CUPE Ontario in the Media

The hospital workers are asking for respect and better pandemic protections – safety measures, which will also benefit patients. In addition to getting Bill 124 repealed, they want the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) the umbrella group for hospital employers, to take several concessions, including language around seniority and retirement packages, off the table. In July,…

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Paramedics lean over a patient ona stretcher

CUPE Files Legal Challenge to OMERS’ Punitive Treatment of Paramedics

COVID-19 media stories, CUPE Ontario in the Media

“Paramedics have been demanding that OMERS allow them fair access to earlier retirement options for over a decade,” said Fred Hahn, President of CUPE Ontario, about the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System. “Now OMERS is saying working paramedics can transition to earlier retirement options only at the risk of deep cuts to their pensions. This…

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Photo shows Michael Hurley with a megaphone.

“You are heroes”: Union rally highlights hospital workers’ sacrifices ahead of fall contract negotiations

COVID-19 media stories, CUPE Ontario in the Media

“Our members at this hospital were working very long hours, 14, 15, 16 hours a day,” said Fred Hahn, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees of Ontario. “Then, when they went home, they were so worried and uncertain about infecting their families that they slept in their garages, or in their cars in…

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CUPE files legal challenge to OMERS’ punitive treatment of paramedics

Fix OMERS--updates, Health Care, Paramedics, Solidarity

TORONTO, ON – Today, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) filed a legal challenge with the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) about OMERS’ treatment of paramedic members accessing earlier retirement options. “Paramedics have been demanding that OMERS allow them fair access to earlier retirement options for over a decade,” said Fred Hahn,…

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Frontline Residential and Community Workers in Hamilton call for urgent action to address chronic short staffing, declining workplace morale

COVID-19, Social Services, Women's

HAMILTON, ON – Frontline residential and community outreach workers at Good Shepherd Family Centre, Reaching Home and Women’s Services Hamilton, who are represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 5167, are exhausted from long hours, low pay, and acute workplace stress that has resulted in chronic understaffing, high staff turnover, leading to…

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“We need answers and accountability”: Important Questions about OMERS’s Investment Returns

Fix OMERS--updates, Solidarity

Dear CUPE members in OMERS, This week will be the first time that OMERS makes public its mid-year investment results. CUPE Ontario wants OMERS’ returns to be strong. Good investment returns are in the best interest of workers and employers alike. Solid returns are critical to delivering on the modest OMERS pension promise, without putting…

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Toronto community housing workers approach possible job action; employer refuses to protect services for TCHC’s 110,000 tenants

Municipal, Strike Support

Toronto, ON — Effective Sunday, August 22, at 12:01 a.m., more than 700 housing workers at Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) who are represented by Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 79, will be in a legal strike position to enhance safety, improve quality, and ensure affordability for 110,000 Torontonians who rely on social housing.…

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“We Must Reach Beyond Partial Liberation”: CUPE Ontario celebrates Emancipation Day 2021

Human RIghts, International Solidarity, Racial Justice

One hundred and eighty-seven years ago today, on 1 August 1834, the Slavery Abolition Act took effect marking the legal end slavery across the British Empire. The Act emancipated over 800,000 enslaved Africans across the Caribbean and South America. As educator and historian Natasha L. Henry notes, many enslaved Africans in British North America received…

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Ford Conservatives‘ ‘hands off, head in sand’ approach to campus reopenings put Safe September, university students and workers at risk

COVID-19, University

Statement from OUWCC Chair David Simao and CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn regarding Ministry of Colleges and Universities directives on re-opening post-secondary institutions in September. No amount of magical thinking on Doug Ford’s or Minister Jill Dunlop’s part will make the risk of transmission fall to a level that allows universities to simply throw open…

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