Ontario
Hospital Workers Conclude a Summer of Rallies in Defence of Rights
On September 10, hospital workers from across Ontario rallied in front
of the Ontario Hospital Association's (OHA) head office in downtown
Toronto. The OHA's head office was chosen as the location for the rally
because over 70,000 hospital workers, members of OCHU/CUPE (Ontario
Council of Hospital Unions/Canadian Union of
Public Employees) and SEIU Healthcare (Service Employees International
Union) are attempting to negotiate the renewal of their collective
agreements with OHA.
The theme of the rally was Respect Us! Protect Us! Pay Us! and No To Concessions!
The rally was the culmination of over 60 actions that were organized by
hospital workers across Ontario during the summer in defence of their
rights and dignity.
 Leaders
of the two unions and frontline workers spoke. They made the point that
Ontario health care workers are protecting the health and the safety of
the public and that since the start of the pandemic more than 24,000
health care workers contracted COVID-19 and 24 died. They spoke about
the exhaustion and mental health problems that
are affecting so many of them as a result of their untenable working
conditions. This makes the Ford government's provocation unacceptable.
In 2019, the Ford government passed Bill 124 which dictates that
total compensation for a broad section of workers in the public sector,
including Crown agencies, school boards, universities and colleges,
hospitals, non-profit long-term care homes, cannot exceed one per cent
per year for three years. It also covers Children's Aid societies,
social service agencies and the electricity and energy sectors.
Hospital workers estimate that with this wage cap policy the Ford
government is actually cutting their wages. A wage increase of one
percent would mean an actual cut of nearly $1,500 this year alone when
inflation, currently well over three per cent, is taken into account.
But the cap on compensation impacts far more than wages. Included in
the one per cent is everything that government and employers consider a
cost, including any improvement in vacations, leaves of all kinds,
health benefits and more. It impacts workers' access to counseling and
mental health supports that are urgently needed in conditions
of the pandemic.
Participants in the rally made it clear that they consider this to
be a violation of their right to negotiate wages they deem acceptable.
It is also an insult to workers who have made and continue to make
great personal sacrifices to care for and protect the public in the
conditions of COVID-19. 
Showing utmost insensitivity to the plight of the workers, a
spokesperson for the president of the Treasury Board wrote, in an email
to CBC News, that it is "inaccurate to suggest" that Bill 124 caps
wages at one per cent annually, as "Ontario's public-sector employees
will still be able to receive salary increases for seniority,
performance, or
increased qualifications."
"Bill 124 is designed to protect public sector jobs and vital
front-line services, which are essential in our fight against
COVID-19," he also wrote. "We believe this is a fair, consistent, and
time-limited approach that will enable us to protect front- line jobs
and workers."
Wage progressions in collective agreements have nothing to do with
the basic wages of workers and do not apply to all of them. The very
idea that attacking the rights and the conditions of those who deliver
the services is protecting services and workers is irrational and a
further provocation. It shows that the Ford government's only response
to the problems of the health care system is to impose further chaos,
increase the attacks on workers' rights and open up the system
to further privatization.
The anger of workers increased, speakers said, when the OHA
negotiators came to the bargaining table to meet with the union
bargaining committee and presented concessionary demands including
attacks on seniority rights and pensions and others that would permit
increased contracting out of their work.
Throughout the summer, health care workers all across Ontario
organized actions to present their stands to the public and explain
what is actually going on in the health care system. They are speaking
out and mobilizing public opinion for a solution to the crisis in
health care that favours the people.
This article was published in
September 13, 2021 - No. 82
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO08822.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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