In celebration of Personal Support Worker Day on May 19, 2022 Unifor salutes the contributions of the thousands of Unifor members who work as Personal Support Workers (PSWs) in Ontario, and Continuing Care Assistants (CCAs) in Nova Scotia.

PSW’s and CCAs have been on the front lines putting themselves in danger ever day by providing care for others during this unprecedented pandemic. In many health care facilities, PSW’s have been the backbone, providing care throughout the pandemic. There were thousands of PSW’s and CCA’s who contracted this disease as they worked through an unimaginable humanitarian crisis, especially in the long-term care sector.

“These workers deserve better as they continue to serve our most vulnerable, despite being overworked and undervalued by governments and employers,” said Katha Fortier, Assistant to Unifor National President and lead health care negotiator. “The conditions of work and the conditions of care are intertwined and this pandemic has further exposed the shameful working and living conditions that still continue every day due to insufficient government funding.”

PSWs and CCAs are incredible caregivers who try to make sure our loved ones are healthy and safe. This pandemic has further exposed the unjust working conditions these workers face every day due to insufficient government investment and continuous cost-cutting.

“Currently it’s a 4 hour target and  the health and safety of residents and workers are on the line it is inhumane not to provide the resources needed to provide care with respect and dignity for our seniors,” said Andy Savela, Unifor Health Care Director.

Unifor continues to call on provincial governments to implement a mandated, enforceable and measurable 4 hour minimum care standard.

First published in the National Post on May 17, 2022

Whenever I see old friends, the same thing happens. After the hugs and handshakes, or maybe elbow bumps, we get down to the real business of reconnecting. We start catching up — recounting the stories of our lives since the last time we were together, sharing news about our families and the latest on what’s happening in our communities.

We share photos, sometimes videos. We find common ground. And occasionally we disagree, as friends sometimes do. Through it all, however, our ties are strengthened and our connections grow. All communities need this. It’s how communities are built.

As a country, that community is built largely by the stories we tell in TV shows and movies, and through the stories told in local and national news broadcasts. Yet that is increasingly threatened, as streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon drown out Canadian broadcasters, without paying their fair share for the development of Canadian stories.

Building a national community was the inspiration behind the Broadcasting Act back in 1936. Canada was big and growing, and its people were moving around to find work in unprecedented ways. New technologies, such as radio and cinema, were taking off, telling the stories that held our communities together as much as they informed and entertained us.

Yet Canada’s fledgling broadcast industry was being overwhelmed by much-larger American interests, and subsequent versions of the Broadcasting Act tried to re-balance the scale. The same happened as the act was updated over the years to recognize even newer technologies such as television, where I built my career with CTV.

Today, another wildly overdue update to the act is needed to protect Canadian content from being drowned out by new foreign streaming services. These streaming services were able to breeze their way onto our screens while being completely exempt from regulation under the Broadcasting Act, simply because they are transmitted over the internet instead of over the air or through cable.

It’s a difference without meaning, and it is undermining the ability of Canadians to see and hear the Canadian stories that tie us together as a nation.

The trucker convoy, the rise of the right, the vitriol we see every day on social media, have shown us what happens when we fail to build community and allow our differences to define us. When we stop talking and listening to each other, we stop being a community. We need to fix this, and with a few small tweaks to Bill C-11, we could take some of the steps needed to do just that.

Bill C-11, which replaces the old Bill C-10 that was introduced in the previous Parliament, is heading to committee — the next step in becoming law and fulfilling a promise of the Liberal government to address the inequities threatening Canadian broadcast media.

The bill would remove the exemption for streaming services. This would re-balance the scales in the face of a new technology, and is long overdue. User-generated content shared on social media is not covered by the bill.

By being included in the Broadcasting Act, streaming services will finally be put on a level playing field with traditional Canadian broadcasters, and forced to contribute to Canadian content. Until now, they have been given a free ride — able to compete directly with Canadian broadcasters, without having to pay their fair share to support the industry in this country or to support the news media sector, as traditional broadcasters must do.

Bringing these giant streamers into the regulatory system will bring new money and new support for Canadian content and Canadian creators, but it’s missing one thing: support for local news.

Local news is on life support in this country. We saw a 23 per cent drop in television jobs between 2014 and 2020, and the impact is seen in the diminished local news coverage across the country. Bringing streamers into the Broadcasting Act can help to address this decline.

In 2009, the CRTC created a news fund to help support local news, as the business model for broadcasters was changing. That was good, but five years later, a new CRTC commissioner eliminated the fund, throwing local news into crisis.

Amending Bill C-11 to include a similar fund to support local news and local reporters, partially paid for by the Big Tech companies that now dominate the television market, would offer the stable solution this country needs. Then we can get back to re-building our communities by telling Canadian stories.

Randy Kitt is the director of media at Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union.

“Our heroes in health care are burnt out and struggling to keep up in long-term care homes,” said Katha Fortier, Assistant to Unifor’s National President. “PSWs and other workers who have worked through what can only be described as a humanitarian crisis are leaving the industry in droves. Fortier continues” Poor compensation, lack of full time work and COVID-19 have just made a bad situation worse.”

Over 20 long-term care rallies are set to make some noise on May 13 across Ontario, sending the message loud and clear to the provincial government to respect our health care members, repeal Bill124 stop putting profit over people and follow the advice of their own long term care commission by immediately implementing a measureable and enforceable 4 hour minimum care standard per resident per day.

“Long term care workers across Ontario are fed up with politicians saying the right things, but not acting on them,” said Unifor Local 229 President Kari Jefford. “Ontario has had a broken long-term care system way before the pandemic. Workers in long-term care need politicians to put their money and actions where their mouths are and respect, protect and pay us.”

Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future.