Ontario Hospital Workers in Action
Province-Wide Demonstrations Demand
Repeal of Bill 124
According
to Prime Minister Trudeau, the COVID-19 pandemic is over and he is
ready to receive a post pandemic mandate from the electors. The fact
remains that the pandemic is not over, attested to by Canada's Chief
Public Health Officer who reports that in fact we have entered the
fourth wave. In her August 13 statement she said, "The latest
national seven-day moving average
of 1,609 new cases reported daily (August 6-12), is an increase of 70
per cent over the previous week," and that there are early signs of
increases in severity trends, with an increase of 14 per cent over the
previous week in the number of people being treated in hospitals. Furthermore,
no summation whatsoever has taken place of the conditions across the
country. The crisis in the health care system is a case in point. The
crisis in the entire system is getting worse, mostly because of
privatization and the relentless and ruthless pursuit of programs to
pay the rich and consider the working people dispensable.
Within this, hospital workers in Ontario are facing the same
problems as health care workers in other provinces. These problems
existed before the pandemic but have become much worse, the most
significant of which is staff shortages. Without sufficient staff,
patient care is compromised. Instead of increasing investments in
health care,
including training and recruiting workers in all areas, those working
in health care have been forced into untenable overwork situations and
have been denied necessary rest which affects their health and
well-being as well as that of their families and their patients.
 Since
July, 70,000 hospital workers who are members of the Ontario Council of
Hospital Unions-Canadian Union of Public Employees (OCHU-CUPE) and the
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) have been organizing
actions at hospitals throughout the province demanding Respect Us. Protect Us. Pay Us. and Repeal Bill
124.
The purpose of the rallies is to mobilize union members and the public
in support of the workers' demands that Bill 124 be repealed and that
the Ontario Hospital Association engage in negotiations with the unions
for a new collective agreement without government dictate of what can
and cannot be negotiated. Hospital workers, like all
public sector workers, are being targeted by Bill 124, legislation
passed by the Ford government in 2019. Bill 124, the Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, 2019,
imposes a three-year "moderation period" on public sector workers
during which increases to compensation (i.e. wages and benefits) are
capped at
one per cent per year. The current rate of inflation is 3.6 per cent
which means that a one per cent wage increase is a 2.6 per cent pay cut.
It is unconscionable that at this time the Ford government is
insisting on enforcing the language of Bill 124 to actually cut wages
and to take away job security protections that already exist.
In addition to the attempt to impose this cap on compensation, the unions
report that the Ontario Hospital Association has presented them with a
list of concessions related to job security which would strip away
protections previously negotiated, including reduced rights in a
contracting-out situation and the elimination of seniority as a major
factor in
getting a job.
Speaking to the press at a rally at Renfrew Victoria Hospital on
July 27, OCHU Secretary-Treasurer Sharon Richer explained the situation
that hospital workers are in after months of working in extremely
difficult conditions during the pandemic. She spoke of the sacrifices
that hospital workers have made,
many unable to take vacations or time off, many reassigned to work in
jobs other than their own or to work in long-term care homes. There
have been many instances of workers isolating themselves from their
families for long periods of time to avoid bringing COVID-19 into their
homes and communities. She said "Everyone is afraid to bring
COVID-19 into their homes since many haven't worked with the proper PPE
in 20 months." More than 23,000 Ontario health care workers have
contracted COVID-19 and 24 have died.
Throughout the pandemic hospital workers have continued to carry out
their responsibilities, putting their health and lives in danger to
look after hospital patients and residents in long-term care homes. It
is governments and employers such as the Ontario Hospital Association
that are not acting responsibly. Providing the right of all to health
care with a guarantee is a social responsibility of government which
includes ensuring that health care workers themselves have the wages
and working conditions that they need in order to do their jobs. Wage
reductions and other concessions will only exacerbate the problem of
recruitment and retention of hospital staff. Workers are demanding
that their voices be heard and denouncing government decrees that put
workers and patients at risk.
Workers' Forum calls on all workers to support hospital
workers in their fight for the repeal of Bill 124 in Ontario and for
wages and working conditions that workers themselves deem acceptable in Quebec and
across the country.
This article was published in
August 16, 2021 - No. 70
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO08701.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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