Frontline Health Care Unions in Ontario Launch "Care Not Profit" Campaign
On July 23, the Service Employees International Union
Healthcare (SEIU Healthcare), the Canadian Union of Public Employees
(CUPE) and Unifor, representing frontline health care workers in
Ontario, held a joint press conference to launch their campaign "Care
Not Profit." The online press conference was watched by more than
19,000
viewers. After 1,800 deaths in long-term care during the COVID-19 pandemic, this
campaign calls on the people of Ontario to demand fundamental changes
in the health care sector.
Sharleen Stewart, President of SEIU Healthcare, began
the press conference by saying that in the midst of the worst crisis
our long-term care sector has seen in decades, we have seen for-profit
companies choose money for their shareholders over better care for
seniors. "That is money," she said, "that should have gone for better
wages for low
paid workers, more full time employment and higher staffing levels,
more PPE, air-conditioning for residents, and improved infectious
disease protocols. As we know, that did not happen." We know companies
like Extendicare, Chartwell and Revera put profits before care, she
said, and "government should take these companies out of the care
sector."
 Candace
Rennick, Treasurer of CUPE Ontario followed. She explained that she
started working on the front lines in a long-term care facility when
she was 16 years old. "Since then," she said, "I have lived the rapid
deterioration of a system that is meant to provide dignified care to
our loved ones in their final days. I have this experience as a
worker, but also as a daughter, because my father died in a long-term
care facility. For years our unions and other long-term care activists
have been calling on successive governments to step up but the cries of
frontline workers, residents and families have been regularly
dismissed.
"Governments have known about this situation and they
have failed to respond. We need staffing improvements. We need
accountability and we need a commitment from this government that
change will happen, that conditions will be improved, put in place
through proper regulation, proper inspection and adequate funding.
"Every single public dollar put into long-term care,"
she said, "must be used to enhance the quality of life for residents
and the working conditions of the staff. That means putting an end to
for profit care. It is not enough anymore for us to be angered or
saddened by the state of our long-term care system. Each and every one
of us must take
action to demand that this government put an end to for-profit in a
system in which our loved ones are living and dying without their
dignity."
Jerry Dias, President of Unifor said his union, like
SEIU Healthcare and CUPE, has been sounding the alarm over long-term
care for more than a decade, long before the pandemic started.
"A personal support worker has six minutes on average to
provide morning care for residents. Six minutes! Far less than those
residents deserve.
"Workers were already struggling under increasing
demands when the pandemic hit. Yet they were just not able to do what
was needed within a system that had failed. As COVID-19 spread every
one of us has been horrified and ashamed by what has happened in our
long-term care homes. Let me say unequivocally that the workers we
represent are exceptional. In the cases of severe outbreaks, many of
them worked until exhaustion. Many of them became sick and sadly, we
know that 8 personal support workers died from COVID-19.
"Of the 15 long-term care homes with the highest number
of deaths, 13 of them were for-profit. This isn't coincidental. No one
should make a profit off misfortune and suffering. Never Again!"
During the press conference the unions screened a video
to honour seniors who have died in long-term care facilities due to
COVID-19 and as a tribute to the dedication of frontline health care
workers. The video can be viewed and shared from the website
carenotprofit.ca or on Facebook.
Immediate Actions Demanded from Ontario Premier
On July 30, the same unions issued the joint statement
below following the release of Ontario's long-term care staffing study
which was launched by the Ministry of Long-Term Care in February 2020.
The statement reads:
 "Today the provincial government received yet another
recommendations report on what we've already known for years. It's time
for transformational funding commitments and rigorous implementation
timelines to ensure healthcare workers receive the support they need to
deliver quality care for our most vulnerable. Unfortunately, Premier
Ford's government has yet to take steps towards funding an action plan
to improve the delivery of long-term care. All three unions have long
been advocating for a legislated care standard of four hours per
resident per day and are urging the government to take immediate steps
to pass that into law.
"We are pleased that the report echoes our
recommendation for a minimum daily average of four hours of direct care
per resident, based on hours worked, not hours paid. The next step is
ensuring that this has teeth by becoming legislated.
"There are constructive, actionable steps that Premier Ford should take now to improve the system:
Ensure that workers are paid at a rate commensurate with their significant contributions;
Eliminate Bill 124's adverse impacts on worker retention;
Reverse the previously eliminated paid sick leave;
Revise transfer payment agreements with operators to mandate more full-time jobs; and
Include unions, families and worker advocates in all policy implementation tables.
"Frontline healthcare workers are real heroes who have
for too-long been exploited by a system that puts profits before care.
They need support now, before the fall flu season and before a
subsequent spike in COVID-19.
"As we all know, long-term care staffing was in crisis
prior to the spread of COVID-19, but it's now on life support after the
crushing impacts of the pandemic. Enough talk. We need bold action now."
This article was published in
Number 53 - August 6, 2020
Article Link:
Frontline Health Care Unions in Ontario Launch "Care Not Profit" Campaign
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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