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Unifor is proud to welcome 218 new health care members at The Village of Ridgeview Court, Schlegel Villages in Milton, Ontario, marking another important step forward for workers in Ontario’s long-term care sector.
These members working in housekeeping, laundry, dietary, maintenance, recreation, and frontline care roles including PSWs and RPNs are joining the union at a critical time for health care workers. Across the sector, workers continue to face increasing workloads, wage pressures, and the physical and emotional toll of delivering care in an under-resourced system.
“I’m incredibly proud of our new members for coming together to build strength and solidarity in a sector that relies so deeply on their skill, compassion, and dedication,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “When care workers come together like this, they can demand better staffing levels, safer working conditions, and the respect they deserve.”
Ridgeview Court joins a growing network of unionized Schlegel Villages workplaces across Ontario.
“Health care workers are carrying an enormous burden, and they cannot do it alone,” said Unifor Ontario Regional Director Samia Hashi. “Joining Unifor means turning these workers’ extensive experience in the field into real improvements on the job and real protections for themselves and the residents they care for.”
As pressures on long-term care continue to grow, so too does the urgency for workers to organize, speak out, and fight for the future of care.
“Strengthening coordination and solidarity across the sector is how we’re building worker power and raising the bar for all long-term care workers,” said Unifor Local 1106 Vice President Colleen MacDermott-Stevens.
Unifor represents more than 35,000 health care and social services workers across Canada, including those in hospitals, long-term care, retirement homes, home care, and community services. Members provide frontline care every day, often in challenging conditions shaped by staffing shortages, rising demand, and system pressures. Unifor advocates for safe staffing levels, fair wages, improved working conditions, and a strong, publicly funded health care system that puts patients, residents, and workers first.
