Ontario Hospital Workers Stand Firm in Defence of Their Rights
September 10, 2021 rally opposes Ontario Hospital Association demands for concessions.
Contract negotiations between the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA)
and the representatives of 70,000 hospital workers represented by the
Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) and the Service Employees
International Union (SEIU) have broken down. The unions announced in a
press release dated September 29 that the OHA has
refused to seriously address the pressing health and safety needs of
workers.
The press release states that "While dealing with exhaustion and the
mental and physical scars of four waves of pandemic work, Ontario
hospital workers faced an aggressive attack on their working conditions
and wages by their hospital employers, who pushed rollbacks in this
round of provincial contract negotiations, which began in June and
continued through September." Among the demands of the workers that the
OHA has rejected are guaranteed access to pandemic safety equipment, and
improved violence and mental health supports.
 The
unions report that racially-directed abuse, sexual assault and
harassment, and physical violence and aggression against hospital
workers is a significant and growing problem. They cited a recent poll
of 2,658 frontline hospital workers in which 66 per cent said that
violent incidents have increased during the pandemic.
The other safety issue on which the workers are holding firm is on
pandemic protection. Michael Hurley, President of OCHU says in the
press release: "The hospitals have refused throughout the pandemic to
treat COVID-19 as an airborne virus and to protect against that threat,
which has had a terrible impact on patient and worker safety.
Protecting staff from contracting or spreading the virus by providing
them with effective equipment is fundamental to protecting them, their
families, and the patients they care for. At least 860 Ontario patients
have died from the virus contracted in hospital."
Sharleen Stewart, president of SEIU Healthcare said that "Abhorrent
working conditions in Ontario's hospitals mean that surgical backlogs
will continue, and patient care will be put at risk. The provincial
government and the Ontario Hospital Association are driving our
hospital system further into the ditch and our unions simply cannot
abide
by their claw back of support at the bargaining table."
Health care workers are also faced with the Ford government's
legislation, Bill 124, which decrees a cap on compensation increases of
one per cent per year for three years. Throughout the summer the unions
organized actions at hospitals throughout the province in support of
their campaign for wages and working conditions that are acceptable
to workers, under the theme "Respect Us. Protect Us. Pay Us." These
actions were organized to inform Ontarians of the conditions of
hospital workers and mobilize public opinion for their fight in defence
of their rights and the rights of all. With the breakdown of
negotiations the unions say they will be doubling their efforts to
speak directly to
Ontarians.
This article was published in
October 4, 2021 - No. 91
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO08914.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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