CUPE: Ontario Opposition leaders to join hospital workers in delivering thousands of messages to Doug Ford at Queen’s Park on Tuesday

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--While their pandemic efforts have been generously praised by Doug Ford’s Ontario government, front-line hospital workers are asking for Bill 124, the wage cap legislation that devalues them and is fueling an exodus of staff from health care, to be repealed.

On Tuesday, February 22 at 12 noon, front-line staff will make a special delivery for Ontario Premier Doug Ford: thousands of postcards signed by individual hospital workers urging him to scrap his government’s 1% wage cap under Bill 124.

Ontario’s three Opposition leaders will be on hand when the postcards written by front-line registered practical nurses, personal support workers, hospital cleaners and other critical health care staff are hand-delivered to the steps of the Ontario Legislature.

Ontario inflation hit 5.7% in January 2022 while health care workers’ wages remain capped at 1%. As negotiations remain stalled for over 70,000 Ontario hospital workers, Bill 124 prevents them from bargaining much-needed mental health supports. From January 14, 2022 to February 16, 2022, health worker COVID-19 infections have grown from 28,336 to 34,662, a huge increase that the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and SEIU Healthcare say is associated with the rationing of personal protective equipment and forcing workers sick with COVID-19 to work during their isolation period.

CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE) president Michael Hurley, says “health care workers should not have to beg for protective equipment or a wage increase. We ask the government to reverse its decision to impose real cuts to wages through Bill 124 and if the government plans to offer retention bonuses, we ask that it offer them to all health care workers. Everyone: interns and residents, nurses, cleaners, maintenance staff, clerical employees, paramedical employees, PSWs and support staff have worked hard and sacrificed much - and there are shortages in almost all occupations.”

An invite to meet the front-line staff and accept the postcard mail delivery was extended to all the party leaders. So far, only the leaders of the NDP, Liberals and the Green Party have agreed to attend.

“This recent increase in workers contracting COVID-19 is putting an even greater strain on the health human resource crisis we’ve been urging the Ford government to address for months,” said SEIU Healthcare President Sharleen Stewart. “Instead of temporary wage enhancements and one-time bonuses for select workers, which is creating division in our healthcare facilities, the Ontario government must repeal Bill 124 to give all health care workers access to wages that reflect their hard work and sacrifice and the mental health supports they desperately need after two years on the frontlines of COVID-19.”

WHO: Registered practical nurses, PSWs, hospital cleaners and others hold media conference and deliver postcards to the Ontario government calling for the repeal of Bill 124 that cuts their wages.

WHEN: February 22, 12 noon

WHERE: Queen’s Park – Ontario Legislature outside main entrance