Unionized hospital workers in Ontario are accusing the Ford government of saying one thing and doing the other when it comes to negotiations on a new provincial contract.
Members of SEIU Healthcare and other unions rallied at Trenton Memorial Hospital and Belleville General Hospital on Friday, pushing back against Bill 124 which they say cuts their future pay raises and limits their ability to negotiate better benefits.
Chief Steward for SEIU at Quinte Health Care Carol Ann Fellows tells Quinte News workers need better pandemic protections, mental health supports and wages that keep up with the pace of inflation.
“We’re saying we need some mental health benefits, because we don’t have that currently and we’re also losing staff. They’re just fed up and leaving, because they just can’t take it anymore and this is kind of a slap in the face. The government is saying ‘you don’t deserve any more than 1%, which isn’t even inflation.’ “
Fellows added that the province seems to be treating male-dominated sectors like policing and fire differently from female dominated sectors like education and health care.
“We definitely feel that. They’re the ones that government is going after continually and we’re the ones that are always suffering. If you look at some of the long term care homes there are layoffs like crazy of RPNs. How can we in the middle of a pandemic, have any layoffs of any staff, anywhere?”
SEIU Union Representative Derek Gwynn says especially with how hard health care professionals have been working over the course of the pandemic, the Ford government is saying one thing and doing the other.
“It’s really frustrating watching Doug Ford give press conferences when he talks about health care heroes. He talks about how they’re heroes and thanks them profusely, and then he runs up to Queen’s Park to pass legislation capping their wages at 1%. If he thinks they’re heroes, he should make sure that they are fairly compensated.”
He also says cutting wages and benefits is making it more difficult to attract new health care workers, with so many leaving the sector during the pandemic.
Fellows says there are staffing shortages in just about every department at Quinte Health Care hospitals and others across the province, and those workers are needed to continue to care for people through the end of the pandemic and afterwards.
Negotiations between the union and Ontario Hospital Association are planned to continue in September, with the current deal set to expire on December 31, 2021.
