CUPE members preparing for province-wide action after negotiations stall at the Extendicare Central Table

Markham, ON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Members of CUPE’s central negotiation table are preparing for a summer of action after negotiations with Extendicare’s management team stalled this week. The parties met at CUPE’s Ontario Regional office to negotiate a new collective agreement for eight of CUPE’s Extendicare locals. CUPE represents over 30,000 Long-Term Care and Retirement Home workers across the province and has consistently set the pattern followed by other unions bargaining in the Long-Term Care and Retirement sector in Ontario.

CUPE locals 1182, 1307, 1394, 2770, 2951, 3127, 3128, and 4788 serve seniors in Extendicare’s Laurier Manor, Crossing Bridge, Timmins, Sudbury, Bayview, Oshawa, Tri-Town, Kapuskasing, and York facilities. The central table agreement frames the conditions for other Extendicare facilities across the province, representing over 1100 long-term care workers.

Extendicare made $96.6 million in profits in 2025. This for-profit provider can afford to provide fair wages, good benefits, and correct the issues caused by their systems. Instead, they have withdrawn from bargaining without meaningful engagement, hoping instead to push the process to Interest Arbitration in the hopes that an arbitrator will force concessions on long term-care workers. From scheduling, vacation, and pay issues caused by the implementation of the employer’s Human Resources management system Workday, to benefits and annual pay increases, the parties were unable to find common ground, despite working with a neutral conciliator. This delay will continue to impact long-term care workers who already have lower wages and lesser working conditions compared with other health care workers in other sectors.

The bargaining committee are returning to their communities to plan next steps with their members. While Long-Term Care workers in Ontario fall under the Hospital Labour Relations Dispute Arbitration Act (HLDAA), which denies them the right to strike, these workers are still able to employ other tactics and job actions to exercise their rights as workers. The union is reviewing all possible legal avenues for action to pressure the employer to come back to the table. Care can’t wait, and neither can these workers.

-30-

:gv/cope491