Renfrew hospital workers are set to hold a rally tomorrow afternoon. From 11am until 12:30pm, members of CUPE will be having their voices heard regarding the lack of respect they are getting from both their hospital employers and the provincial government in contract negotiations. Provincial bargaining for nearly 70,000 registered practical nurses, personal support workers, clerical, cleaning, maintenance, dietary and other staff who are members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees and SEIU Healthcare began in June, following nearly a year and half of challenging and pandemic work. The Renfrew rally is among the first of 55 rallies across the province scheduled through the end of August.
“Hospital workers have held the line for patients and the people of Renfrew and Ontario. They sacrificed to do that, and they were proud and grateful to be able to help. They did not expect a reward. But a cut to their modest real wages and the gutting of their contracts is not acceptable. We expect the provincial government to walk back from its 1% wage cap, as the British government has just done, in acknowledgement of the pandemic effort. And we expect the hospitals to pull their concessions and to address the priorities of the workforce, particularly in the areas of pandemic protection and violence.” Says Sharon Richer, CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE) secretary-treasurer.
The Ontario Hospital Association (OHA), the umbrella group that bargains on behalf of Ontario hospitals in central negotiations has proposed takeaways which would eviscerate the employment protection and mobility rights of the workforce.
Last week Ontario Premier Doug Ford again called heath care workers “unsung heroes”. But hospital workers face a cut to real wages under provincial legislation that restricts them to a wage increase less than 1/3 of the rate of inflation. The province has also severely limited hospital workers’ ability to negotiate much-needed increases to mental health supports like post-traumatic stress counselling. The hospitals are seeking many concessions in bargaining.
