OCHU-CUPE, SEIU Healthcare and Unifor statement on Bill 124 ruling: “This is a win for all hardworking families; time for Ford to address health care crisis”

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Michael Hurley, president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU-CUPE); Sharleen Stewart, president of SEIU Healthcare; and Kelly-Anne Orr, assistant to the national officers of Unifor released the following joint statement today in response to the Ontario Court of Appeal ruling on Bill 124:

“We are pleased to see the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Superior Court that Bill 124 was unconstitutional. This is a win for all hardworking families who are trying to get ahead and all unions who fought on their behalf to protect the rights of all workers to freely bargain a collective agreement.

We urge Doug Ford to end his attacks on the very people we need to fix Ontario’s worsening health care system. Our message is simple: end all wage restraint schemes and let Bill 124 go.

It’s time now for Premier Ford and the Ontario PCs to address the exodus of health care workers, lack of staff and bed capacity that is driving the crisis of ER closures, causing huge waitlists for surgeries and diagnostics, and forcing unprecedented numbers of patients to receive care in hospital hallways.

The government must increase hospital budgets by at least five per cent beyond inflation in each of the next 4 years, to hire staff, clear the surgical and diagnostic backlogs and get patients off stretchers and into real beds. It’s time for Premier Ford government to follow Premier Eby’s lead and implement nurse-to-patient ratios and improve the quality of patient care.

Premier Ford was just handed a giant cheque from Prime Minister Trudeau to invest in public health care. It’s time Doug Ford use that federal money to improve the working conditions for the people on the frontline of care.”

:cc/cope491