“Why are we excluded?” CUPE personal support workers to rally to be treated like every other profession in Ontario

Rally to be held at Ministry of Health office in Toronto on Tuesday at noon

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Personal support workers have been often treated as lesser workers in the health care system – often by management, and certainly by the government.

The Ford administration’s new regulatory body for PSWs are only reinforcing those sentiments, according to Tera Engley, a PSW and the President of CUPE Local132.

One of the fundamental problems with the Health and Supportive Care Providers Oversight Authority (HSCPOA) is the absence of PSWs on its board of directors, says Engley, who has been working as a PSW for 21 years.

“PSWs are an integral part of our health care system and deserve to be treated with the same respect and dignity as other health care professionals,” she says. “Our peers in the health care sector - doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists - all have elected representation enabling them to have a real say in the future of their professions. Why are PSWs being excluded?”

Sharon Richer, Secretary-Treasurer of CUPE’s hospital division (Ontario Council of Hospital Unions), says that the provincial government must demonstrate real respect for PSWs, who are predominantly women and increasingly racialized.

“Personal support workers are stunned to be denied the same rights to representation and due process as every other regulated profession in Ontario. Given the gendered, racialized composition of the workforce, this model is tone deaf and completely unfair” she says. “For Ontario to address the PSW shortage, the Ford government must ensure that these workers have the rights enjoyed by every other regulated professional, in addition to fair compensation and decent working conditions.”

HSCPOA’s registration is currently voluntary, but some employers are making employment contingent on signing up, sparking anxieties among many workers who have no intention of signing up for a body that disrespects them, says Debra Maxfield, chair of CUPE Ontario’s Health Care Workers Coordinating Committee (HCWCC).

“If the government is going to regulate PSWs and maintain a registry, the framework should be fair, transparent, protect workers and provide PSWs with a meaningful voice in the system that regulates them,” Maxfield says. “Without those guarantees, PSWs feel like they are being coerced into a registry that will do more harm than good.”

The government has made some positive changes to HSCPOA since the body’s conception in 2021, acknowledges Maxfield. But the pace of change has been slow. Five years later, PSWs are still demanding a fair system. Hence, the upcoming rally on Tuesday at the ministry’s office.

Who: Personal Support Workers Represented by CUPE
Tera Engley, PSW and President of CUPE 132
Sharon Richer, Secretary-Treasurer of Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU-CUPE)
Debra Maxfield, Chair of CUPE Ontario’s Health Care Workers Coordinating Committee (HCWCC)

What: PSW rally for fair regulations

Where: Ministry of Health, 777 Bay St., Toronto ON.

When: Tuesday, September 22, 2026

Time: 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

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