Health Care

Dear Premier Ford and Deputy Premier Jones,

On behalf of the hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers we represent in the province of Ontario, our five unions are requesting an urgent joint-meeting to discuss the ongoing healthcare and staffing crisis.

WINNIPEG– Unionized care workers at Association for Community Living (ACL) will hold a rally to raise awareness about the extreme financial hardships facing ACL workers.

TORONTO—The Ontario Ministry of Health proposal to amend the Ambulance Act to employ nurses, physicians and respiratory therapists, along with paramedics for Ornge air flight ambulances will not improve patient outcomes in the province.

WINNIPEG—The Manitoba government’s refusal to fund a living wage at the Association for Community Living (ACL) has resulted in Unifor Local 468 members rejecting the employer’s latest contract offer.

“During the pandemic the Stefanson government was quick to call health care workers heroes, but at the bargaining table its totally different tone,” said Lana Payne, Unifor National President. “Offering health care workers one dollar above minimum wage will not cut it. Health care workers deserve a living wage.”

Unifor members attended the inaugural International Black Health Conference in Halifax, N.S. to discuss strategies for improving access to health care in Black communities across Canada. 

TORONTO— Members at the Extendicare group of nursing homes across Ontario ratified 10 new collective agreements with precedent-setting improvements including a pilot project to move the entire workforce to full-time. 

HALIFAX-Health Support workers have ratified a new collective agreement with the Nova Scotia Health Authority and the IWK, with the largest increases for the lowest-paid workers whose wage scales will now reach $20 per hour.

TORONTO- Unifor will seek judicial review of an arbitration award that set the new terms of collective agreements covering hundreds of long-term care workers that continues a trend of failing workers in the sector.

CHATHAM – Health care workers are taking their issues right to Chatham, Ont.’s Riverview Gardens after they say negotiations have broken down.

Negotiations have broken down between Unifor Local 127 and Riverview Gardens, a Home for the Aged operated by the municipality.

“Throughout the pandemic, our members have always put residents of long-term care first and they demand fair pay and respect,” said Katha Fortier, Assistant to Unifor’s National President. “It’s time Riverview Gardens listened.”