Unfairness Reigns for Group of Mostly Female Health Staff at Tory-Made Ontario Health: CUPE Media Conference at Queens Park Thursday

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Months after the Ford government’s abysmal and fractured restructuring of Ontario Health (OH), a group of unionized women health care workers are in the unfair position of having to fight for the same wages as their non-union coworkers doing the same jobs.

Unionized health care staff who do vital work as epidemiologists, health program planners, analysts and coordinators currently earn up to $20,000 dollars a year less than their non-union co-workers, doing the exact same work, day in and day out. Some unionized workers with more than 15 years of experience are making $5 to $10 per hour less than their non-union coworkers.

Fueling the inequity and workplace division is Doug Ford government’s Treasury Board and OH anti-worker and anti-union refusal to negotiate a fair contract that recognizes workplace wage parity. The Ford government is so dug-in on this point that they outright refuse to negotiate a job evaluation system, say the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), who represent about 45 staff doing this important work at OH.

Adding to the unfairness is that this same group of workers has not seen a wage increase in four years at a time that the cost of food, rent and transport have spiked.

On Thursday, CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn, OH worker and CUPE 5516 President Marthe Dumont, and MPP Jamie West will hold a media conference at Queen’s Park to call on the Conservative government to treat these health care workers with dignity, fairness and respect.

Who:	Fred Hahn, President CUPE Ontario
	Marthe Dumont, President CUPE 5516
	Jamie West, Ontario NDP MPP
What:	Media conference to oppose the PC government’s wage discrimination against Ontario Health workers
Where:	Queen’s Park Media Studio
When:	11a.m. Thursday, November 7, 2024

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