Unifor Local 1996-O

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All frontline health care workers deserve Ontario Pandemic Pay

Unifor is reiterating its demand that the Ontario government allocate funds to support all frontline health care workers.

“While we appreciate that personal support workers in some areas are eligible for either $2.00 or $3.00/hour pandemic pay, many of our COVID heroes remain excluded yet still face the same challenges,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President.

While frontline workers continue to risk exposure, many do not qualify to receive pandemic pay, despite the fact that the province has access to billions in unallocated pandemic relief funds.

Unifor recommends that the Ontario government make the following expansion to pandemic pay, retroactive to the October 1, 2020 announcement.

  1. Pandemic pay should include all frontline workers in Ontario Long-term Care Homes. Cleaners, laundry and dietary workers, rehab/activation workers, clerical workers and nurses are all on the frontline at significant personal risk. Yassin Dabeh, a 19-year-old contract cleaner, recently died of COVID-19 contracted while working in a nursing home in outbreak. He was excluded from pandemic pay.
  1. Retirement home workers, including personal support workers, should be included in pandemic pay. These workers, who generally work for for-profit employers, earn substantially less than their counterparts in the LTC sector. Retirement homes have experienced tragic outbreaks and continue to do so today.
  1. All frontline hospital workers should receive pandemic pay, including nurses, porters, cleaners and laundry workers, rehab workers, therapists, technicians and technologists, clerical workers and any others with patient contact.Hospital workers are subject to expanded redeployment legislation that could see them reassigned, even without their consent, to other hospitals and retirement homes in addition to LTC homes.
  1. All Paramedics and any other frontline EMS workers to be included in pandemic pay.

“Working through this pandemic will haunt frontline workers for years. Banking available funds that should be going to the frontline is unconscionable,” said Dias.

Unifor was the first union in Ontario to make a public demand for Pandemic Pay on April 17, 2020, with the launch of a video and online petition. The union has been steadfast in its position that any worker subject to the Emergency Orders should receive pandemic pay.

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Bell Media cuts radio jobs, including on-air broadcast roles, in streamlining push

Article provided By: Canadian Press as posted on GuelphToday.com

Read the full article here…

 

Bell spokesman Marc Choma says there have been a limited number of staff reductions, but did not specify how many jobs had been cut

TORONTO — Bell Media says it has cut staff, including on-air broadcast roles, as part of a streamlining process.

Bell spokesman Marc Choma says there have been a limited number of staff reductions, but did not specify how many jobs had been cut.

Bell says the roles were cut due to programming decisions by Bell’s radio brands as part of the company’s streamlined operating structure.

Bell claims to be Canada’s largest radio broadcaster with 215 music channels, 109 licensed radio stations and 58 markets across Canada.

Last month, Bell Media confirmed it had restructured its leadership team leading to some staff departures.

The changes come as Bell Media puts greater priority on growing its streaming platforms.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 1, 2021.

Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE)

The Canadian Press

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Bell blasted for taking $122M Labour subsidy while boosting dividends

Read the article here at TEKSAVVY

Bell Canada took a beating from members of parliament this week on several fronts, from its decision to cut rural network investment to the inordinate number of customer complaints it receives.

But the biggest item in MPs’ crosshairs was Bell’s confirmation that it has taken $122 million in pandemic-related labour subsidies despite posting strong financial results and boosting dividend payouts to shareholders.

Along with several other big telecom companies in 2020, Bell availed itself of the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, a federal program that covers a portion of employees’ salaries in order to keep those workers from being laid off. The company also raised quarterly dividends throughout the year and is expected to again increase its fourth-quarter payout.

Nate Erskine-Smith, Liberal MP for Beaches-East York in Toronto and a member of the standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, was pointed in his questions for Robert Malcolmson, Bell’s chief legal and regulatory officer. Here’s the exchange, with embedded video below:

 

Continue reading click the link above for TekSavvy

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Black History Month – Jean Augustine

Black History Month in Canada

Black History Month is observed across Canada every February. Black History Month in Canada provides an opportunity to share and learn about the experiences, contributions and achievements of peoples of African ancestry (see Black Canadians). It was initiated in Canada by the Ontario Black History Society and introduced to Parliament in December 1995 by Jean Augustine, the first Black woman elected as a member of Parliament. Black History Month was officially observed across Canada for the first time in February 1996 (see also Black History in Canada).

Unifor  1996-O Recognize:

Jean Augustine

Black History Month Augustine (1)

In Solidarity,

Equity Committee 1996-O,

1996-O Executive

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Unifor echoes the call for positive mental health with a reminder: mental health care is health care

Unifor Statement

Unifor supports the rights of all people to access public mental health care free from barriers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed workers’ lives, from added stress to isolation, grief, and for many, the loss of workplace drug plan coverage.

To mark Bell Let’s Talk Day, Unifor encourages all people in Canada to not only reach out and build connections, but to demand strengthened access to mental health services and prescription drug coverage through our public health care systems.

Those services must be freely accessible for people to get support, free from discrimination, when facing mental illness or crisis.

One out of every five Canadians will experience mental illness in normal times. It is okay to feel out of sorts because of the global COVID-19 crisis. During the pandemic, we must normalize, listen to, and empathize with those experiencing distress. Additionally, we remind those experiencing mental illness to find supports, as limited as they may be, that work for them in order to navigate through this crisis. Now more than ever, we must find community and support one another.

Members can access COVID-19 Mental Health resources online. These resources include four pillars:

  • Mental health and wellness
  • Quarantine and isolation
  • Challenging stigma, prejudice and racism, and
  • Taking action.

The job of promoting mental wellness is up to every single one of us. Through their union workers can support one another as peers, but for sustained medical care we all rely on the same public health care systems.

View statement on our website here.

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