May 26, 2020

TORONTO – The troubling reports from Canadian Armed Forces serving in long-term care homes in Ontario reinforces the systemic crisis in the provinces long-term care system.

“The report is shocking but sadly not surprising. The crisis in long-term care existed well before the pandemic and now we are feeling the impact of years of neglect,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias. “The living and working conditions in long-term care homes are not the fault of workers, but of governments and operators that for years ignored cries for help by workers, residents and their unions. When operators are focused on profit margins and governments lack the will to improve working and resident conditions the outcome is bound to be horrible.”

More than 1,675 troops have been deployed to five Ontario long-term care homes, but many others in crisis have not received the same attention.

“The lack of oversight and investment into long term care by the Ontario governments has failed all Ontarians,” said Naureen Rizvi, Ontario Regional Director. “Providing quality care starts with adequate staffing levels. Unfortunately, due to years of neglect and privatization of long-term care, workers are either leaving the sector entirely or burning out because working short staffed has become the norm. It’s time for governments and operators to stop the lip service and start treating workers and residents with the respect and dignity that they deserve.”

The union believes that the expansion of for-profit operators, lack of full-time jobs, fair wages and benefits for Personal Support Workers (PSW), who provide upwards of 80 per cent of hands-on resident care has created the crisis we are in today. Wage increases, generally set through a system of arbitration, have been below inflation for the last decade. Four out of five long-term care homes say they struggle to fill shifts, while nearly half of health care workers report working short-staffed every day.

“If there is one thing we can probably all agree on is that we must fix long term care immediately. We need full time work, decent benefits, including sick leave so these critical workers don’t have to come to work when they are sick. These workers were heroes before the pandemic and will continue after the pandemic,” said Dias.

Information about the union’s response to the pandemic, as well as resources for members can be found at unifor.org/COVID19.

Unifor salutes the exceptional courage and compassion of all paramedics on Paramedic Services Week, recognized from May 24 to May 30, 2020.

“Paramedics, as emergency medical services (EMS) personnel, bring tremendous dedication, skill, care and compassion to their jobs as first responders,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “The pandemic has shown us the courage of first responders who often perform their work in dangerous conditions, making them true heroes in our public health care system. I am very proud to stand with the EMS workers represented by our union.”

While Unifor celebrates the vital work of EMS members, the union must also sound an alarm. Last year in Ontario, the Ford government launched a direct assault on public services including EMS.

“These cuts made no sense then nor now. Doug Ford has quickly changed his tune now by thanking paramedics for their hard work, but has yet to introduce or amend legislation to better improve the working conditions of paramedics,” said Dias.

Currently, there are dangerously slow response times in rural areas due to long travel distances and cuts to funding. Urban areas also face and inadequate numbers of ambulances available due to crisis-level hospital overcrowding and paramedics continue to be stuck in long offload delays.

Unifor stands in unity and respect during Paramedic Services Week with all paramedics and remains committed to ensuring fair and equitable terms and conditions of employment in recognition of not only their care and compassion, but also the tremendous courage and dedication, skill and commitment in their service to the health of Canadians.

Download and share the Paramedic Services Week 2020 shareables and join us in thanking all Paramedics for their compassion, humanity and life-saving work in our communities.

Click here to download shareable 1

Click here to download shareable 2

In temporarily replacing regular Employment Insurance benefits, the new Canada Emergency Response Benefit has provided needed support to millions, in a short amount of time.

However, the CERB has a glaring loophole that is short-changing workers from receiving additional income assistance from their employers.

Hundreds of thousands of workers in Canada have access to Supplemental Unemployment Benefit (SUB) payments when they are on layoff. These special, employer-paid benefit “top-ups” can provide hundreds of dollars, per week, to offset a worker’s loss of income.

Unlike regular EI, the CERB rules deny workers these SUB payments that many have won at the bargaining table.

There is a simple fix to this problem that Unifor already proposed in a letter to Minister Qualtrough. In order to ensure this change is made before members are denied the CERB, all affected workers must add their voices.

Sign The Petition…add your voice!!