“Health care workers must have the right to protest:” OCHU-CUPE condemns Ottawa mayor’s push for ‘bubble zone’ by-law

OTTAWA, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The union representing about 10,000 hospital and long-term care staff in Ottawa vowed to fight Mayor Sutcliffe’s plan to create ‘bubble zones’ that would prevent health care workers from exercising their charter rights and organizing demonstrations outside their workplaces.

“We have a constitutional right to protest, and it must not be taken away,” said Michael Hurley, President of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, which represents 50,000 health care staff across the province. “Health care workers already have limitations on their rights to strike and to refuse unsafe work. Demonstrations are one of the few tools our members have to hold employers and the government accountable, and to raise public awareness about cuts that affect the quality of patient care, privatization of health services, funding, health and safety of staff, and other issues.”

The union - which represents a predominantly female and disproportionately racialized workforce - has organized hundreds of protests over the years on a range of issues in the public interest.

OCHU-CUPE is urging the Ottawa City Council to use public education campaigns – and where necessary, traditional policing – to address the growing divisions within society that are causing incidents of hatred and intimidation.

“Health care workers are too familiar with the rising tide of hate and violence in society, but attacking our constitutional rights does nothing to protect us, families or patients. All the means to deal with this are already available to the police,” Hurley said. “We will challenge this by-law on the streets and in court.”

About the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions – CUPE

OCHU-CUPE is the hospital division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees in Ontario, representing about 50,000 workers in hospitals and long-term care homes across the province.

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