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Doug Ford’s Return to Work order is a pathway to frustration for Ontario Health atHome workers
Toronto – Last week, Premier Doug Ford announced he is mandating all Ontario Public Service Agency and CommissionWorkers return to the office 5 days per week, starting in January. This policy, which was created with no consultation with workers and serves no meaningful purpose, s not only short-sighted, but also potentially fiscally irresponsible.
Since the pandemic, hybrid work has been the norm for the 1800 members serving Ontarians at Ontario Health atHome. This arrangement has been normalized as it enables them to maintain strong contact with one another while also allowing for workplace flexibility to help them manage their lives. The employer sold off many of the office buildings, meaning they no longer have the capacity to house all the staff back in the office.
Despite having 60% of the workforce in-office under the current hybrid model at any time, the organization is already struggling with a lack of office space available for the workers who are in the office. In the year since the pandemic, Ontario Health atHome has been restructured several times. There are already not enough work areas for the staff working from the office space that is available. Workers no longer have assigned workstations and haven’t for over one year. This desk hoteling means that several employees share one desk in some offices, making managing their work more difficult. Added to this, Ford’s government has also recently moved Ontario Health workers into Ontario Health atHome offices, which serves to compound this issue.
CUPE estimates that Ontario Health atHome will need at least two thirds more office space to meet this 100% in-office directive. Where will that office space come from? How does the government plan to pay for this rapid expansion? If the disastrous Wellesley-Bay redevelopment is any indication, the Ontario Taxpayers can expect further mismanagement, cost over-runs, and significant delays.
The Ford government needs to re-evaluate this policy. They must immediately ensure that enough space is available to meet the needs of the workers under the current 3-day per week model and commit to not spend extra money on real estate simply to implement its inflexible return to the office policy. We are calling on the Ford government to work with us to develop the most effective, efficient workplace plan that meets the needs of the employers and employees, one that will ensure OHAH can attract and retain the best workforce possible.
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For more information, contact:
Bill Chalupiak, Communications Officer
Canadian Union of Public Employees
wchalupiak@cupe.ca
416-707-1401
:pp/cope491
Download the printable PDF
May 12 to 18 is National Nursing Week
Nurses are an indispensable part of our health care system. From long-term care facilities to emergency services, to hospitals and everything in between, nurses provide skills and expertise that keep our province safe. As the pandemic reminded us all, health care is a collective mission, one that we all take part in on a daily basis.
We know that nursing is a difficult job. Those called to this profession do it with a mind to help everyone live their best lives. As heath care workers, we should all stand together, proud of the work we do. As members of the public, we must support our nurses through every effort to improve the workplace. Every gain that nurses make towards better job security, benefits, workloads and compensation benefits the residents of Ontario as a whole.
In recognition of the invaluable, steadfast dedication that nurses in so many workplaces demonstrate day in and day out, please join us in celebrating National Nursing Week from May 12 to 18, 2025.
A look back at the year that was: 2024 OHC Annual Report
Dear members and supporters,
The past year was a challenging one for health care in Ontario. Our communities have spent the better part of a hundred years building a public health care system we could be proud of, yet the actions of the Ford government threaten to destroy it. His government has allowed primary care to fall into unprecedented disarray and have expended privatization in virtually all aspects of health care, with patients now paying record breaking user charges in private clinics – exactly what our public medicare laws were written to prevent.
The response to an aggressive attack on all we hold dear is not to be afraid. It is to listen and care about the real needs of people, to raise high– brighter than ever– those ideas and principles that advance equity, compassion and caring for each other that are the real solutions to the crises that our society faces.
Let us also remember and celebrate the incredible job that we do as a Health Coalition, founded to safeguard our public medicare for all. The Coalition is growing massively every year now. Polls show that the opposition to privatization and support for public health care is far higher in Ontario than anywhere else in the country. That is our work. The slight wins we have had in long-term care — some fines for terrible operators, reinstatement of inspections —are due to our relentless efforts together. We still have public hospitals despite Doug Ford’s attempts to privatize them, and the growth in private clinics has not been as robust as his budget plans indicate. That too is our work. We have been featured in literally hundreds of media stories this past year, and we can effectively set the key issues whenever we set out to do so.
We — together — are exceptional. The work we do is vitally important. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, to all of you who have leafletted, protested, organized events, researched, put out social media posts, written letters, attended meetings, donated, and every other thing you do to make our movement one of the most effective and unique in Canada. We could not do it without you.
Please find below our annual report for 2024. We will be sending our action plan for what’s to come for the rest of 2025 in the near future. If you would like to view the annual report as a downloadable/printable PDF, please click here.
Ontario Health Coalition
ANNUAL REPORT 2024
Foreword
Recent events have brought to the forefront the reprehensible cruelty of private health care in the U.S. Whatever one thinks about the shooting of UnitedHealthCare’s CEO, it is undeniable that the American people are furious with the corporations making millions (or billions) from denying care. No wonder. Forbes reported that UnitedHealthCare denies more claims than other health insurance companies in the U.S., rejecting up to one in every three. (The company denies this.) UnitedHealthcare, as part of the giant conglomerate UnitedHealth Group, reportedly made more than $16 billion in operating profits last year.
Medical costs are the number one reason for bankruptcy in the U.S. Fifty-six million people struggle with medical debt each year. That’s more than the entire population of Canada. Ninety percent of them took out a second mortgage and eleven million people last year ran up high interest debt on their credit cards to pay medical bills. They will be stuck in a cycle of debt for years, if not for life.
Juxtapose this against the actions of the Ford government. While Mr. Ford has paraded all over the news in recent weeks as the champion of Canadian sovereignty against the U.S., he has in actuality been pushing for massive increases in defence spending (Donald Trump’s agenda) which will take money away from public services and priorities such as affordable housing. He is also pushing American-style privatization of our public health care services, and for this, it didn’t seem to matter to him that he had no mandate. In fact, quite the opposite.
If I sound angry, it is because I am. Our communities have spent the better part of a hundred years building a public health care system we could be proud of. Canada created our public health insurance for all in the 1960s because people couldn’t afford health care on their own. As Justice Emmett Hall, the chair of Royal Commission on Medical Services that resulted in the 1968 passage of the Medical Care Act said:
“As a society, [we] are aware that the trauma of illness, the pain of surgery, the slow decline to death, are burdens enough for the human being to bear without the added burden of medical or hospital bills penalizing the patient at the moment of vulnerability. The Canadian people determined that they should band together to pay medical bills and hospital bills when they were well and income earning. Health services [are] a fundamental need, like education, which Canadians could meet collectively and pay for through taxes.”
The Canada Health Act, passed in 1984, banned extra billing & user fees for patients for medically needed hospital and physician services. We do not have millions of people going bankrupt to pay medical bills because we have public health insurance – paid by taxes. We do not have profiteering insurance companies denying claims to make billions in profit from the sick and the dying.
Yet the actions of Doug Ford threaten to destroy this. His government has allowed primary care to fall into unprecedented disarray. 2.5 million Ontarians now do not have a family doctor, up by a million since Ford took office. He has made policy choices that cannot be described as anything other than deliberate to drive down health care workers’ wages in public and non-profit health services in the midst of a pandemic. His government didn’t provide adequate infection control and socked away billions in unused contingency funds while worsening the health care staffing shortage. He has made budget choices that have forced the majority of Ontario’s public hospitals into deficit – while in the midst of this crisis – resulting in thousands more people waiting on stretchers, record-breaking emergency department closures, and the loss of entire hospitals and vital services that have been in existence since the 1950s or earlier.
While Ontario’s public hospitals and public health care system are now funded at the lowest rate per person in Canada, his government has almost tripled funding to private for-profit hospitals & clinics. They are expanding privatization in virtually all aspects of health care: primary care, hospitals, long-term care, home care, Public Health, virtual care, mental health and addictions and potentially EMS.
Patients are now paying record breaking user charges in Mr. Ford’s private clinics. We are hearing from people in their 80s and 90s who are being charged $2,000, $4,000, even $8,000 or $10,000 for eye surgeries. These prices are both illegal and ludicrous. We heard from a gentleman in his 70s, forced to go back to work to pay for his cataract surgery and a retiree who was charged $2,000 to get an MRI before her open-heart surgery. These things should never happen in Canada. They are exactly what our public medicare laws were written to prevent.
No one can pretend what Ford has set in motion here isn’t U.S. style health care privatization.
As we head into this year with possible elections provincially and nationally, we are seeing an emboldened set of forces pushing an agenda of militarism and fanning the flames of xenophobia, discrimination and hate while posing as the standard-bearers for the interests of regular people. The response to an aggressive attack on all we hold dear is not to be afraid. It is to listen and care about the real needs of people, to raise high– brighter than ever– those ideas and principles that advance equity, compassion and caring for each other that are the real solutions to the crises that our society faces.
Let us also remember and celebrate the incredible job that we do as a Health Coalition, founded to safeguard our public medicare for all. The Coalition is growing massively every year now. Polls show that the opposition to privatization and support for public health care is far higher in Ontario than anywhere else in the country. That is our work. The slight wins we have had in long-term care — some fines for terrible operators, reinstatement of inspections —are due to our relentless efforts together. We still have public hospitals despite Doug Ford’s attempts to privatize them, and the growth in private clinics has not been as robust as his budget plans indicate. That too is our work. We have been featured in literally hundreds of media stories this year, and we can effectively set the key issues whenever we set out to do so.
We — together — are exceptional. The work we do is vitally important. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, to all of you who have leafletted, protested, organized events, researched, put out social media posts, written letters, attended meetings, donated, and every other thing you do to make our movement one of the most effective and unique in Canada. We could not do it without you.
Natalie Mehra
Executive Director
May 30 Day of Protest against Ford’s privatization & destruction of our public health care
On May 30, the Ontario Health Coalition held a huge protest and march in Toronto, and additional protests in Sault Ste Marie, Thunder Bay, Cornwall, Ottawa, North Bay and Dryden against the Ford government’s privatization and destruction of our public health care. Almost 10,000 people came out to Queen’s Park for the march and rally. Approximately 700 more joined in North Bay, Sault Ste Marie, Thunder Bay, Dryden, Ottawa and Cornwall.
We received significant media coverage from all the major news outlets across the province, including Global TV, CTV, CBC, CP24 as well and newspaper and radio coverage. The march in Toronto was massive, taking up University Avenue for more than an entire city block.
The protests made visible the opposition to privatization and raised the profile of the issues. By late spring, polling showed that the majority of Ontarians believe that the Ford government is purposely driving down our public health care to privatize it.
Mass Leaflet & Website
This year we undertook a massive public education campaign. We distributed almost a million leaflets across Ontario door-to-door, in workplaces and at community tables, in markets and community groups. Thousands of volunteers helped to get out the word. We also purchased the URL www.StopForProfitHealthcare.ca and set up a dedicated campaign website with information and tracking. Volunteers tracked the distribution of more than a quarter of a million leaflets on the website map. The effort was amazing! In some parts of Ontario, entire towns were covered door-to-door. The mass outreach and education campaign has been very effective. While all across Canada the majority oppose health care privatization, polling is showing significantly higher support for public health care and opposition to privatization in Ontario compared to other provinces.
Lawn Signs
Working with volunteers in local coalitions, we put up more than 5,000 signs on people’s lawns across Ontario opposing the Ford government’s privatization of our public health care.
Legal Challenges
Fighting for-profit long-term care: Orchard Villa Legal Challenge
The Ontario government reported that it has issued an undertaking to Southbridge to proceed with the 87-bed expansion of Orchard Villa, which would open under a new license of up to 30 years. Southbridge, which owns Orchard Villa, is a for-profit corporation that had the worst record for deaths in its long-term care homes in Ontario during the pandemic. More than 70 residents in Orchard Villa died of COVID alone. The military was sent into the home and found residents on bare mattresses without linens, mattresses put on the floor so residents couldn’t get up and walk, improper feeding that resulted in a resident choking to death, piled up trays with decaying food, and much more. Under Ontario law, the Ministry of Long-Term Care is barred from giving licenses to corporations with terrible records of neglect and inadequate care. We filed a Notice of Application to the court for an order quashing the license and went to court to stop the massive expansion and new 30-year license. We held multiple press conferences with the families of residents and the court hearing was held in October. There has been significant media coverage of this initiative. We fundraised to cover the extraordinary cost of the court challenge and are awaiting the court’s ruling.
Fighting for equality and consent rights for elderly patients: Bill 7 Charter Challenge
In response to a new law passed by the Ford government enabling elderly patients to be forced into long-term care homes not of their choosing up to 70 km away in Southern Ontario and up to 150 km away in Northern Ontario, the Ontario Health Coalition brought a legal challenge under the Bill of Rights in our Constitution. The law violates the constitutional rights of the elderly to equal treatment, violates their right to informed consent and violates their right to life, liberty and security of the person. We held multiple press conferences and issued media releases about the case, and there has been considerable media coverage of this issue. In September, our lawyers argued the Charter Challenge on Bill 7 before the Ontario Divisional Court. We continue to fundraise to cover the extraordinary costs for this initiative.
Small, Rural & Local Hospitals Hearings
In June, we held nine cross-province hearings and received numerous verbal and 138 written submissions depicting the state of local hospitals and the challenges faced by reduced local hospital capacity. Travelling with to hear the testimony of Ontarians was a panel of experts including OHC executive director Natalie Mehra; Graham Webb, lawyer and executive director of the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly; Michael Hurley, President of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions; France Gélinas, NDP Health Critic; Dr. Adil Shamji, Liberal Health Critic and Mike Schreiner, Leader of the Green Party. The response from participants and panelists were overwhelmingly positive. In October, we held a rescheduled hearing in Blind River and accepted final verbal and written submissions to incorporate into a final report and recommendations to be released across the province.
Robbing the public to build the private:
The Ford government’s hospital privatization scheme
Over the course of the last year, the Coalition researched the unused capacity in local public hospitals through Freedom of Information requests and interviews with surgical staff. Across the province, we gathered information about local hospital operating rooms that are closed in evenings, on weekends, or even permanently due to underfunding. At the same time, we gathered figures from Ontario government budget and expense documents, media reports, contracts and accountability agreements to provide a litany of examples of much higher costs and large funding increases provided by the Ford government to for-profit corporation clinics, hospitals and staffing agencies. Meanwhile, the government has imposed real dollar cuts, deficits, and wage caps on public hospitals, robbing them of the ability to attract and retain staff and use their existing operating room capacity. On Wednesday February 21 we held press conferences across the province and in Toronto to release the report.
Illegal and Unlawful Extra-billing of Patients in Private Clinics
In April, we released a second new research report Illegal, Unlawful and Unethical: Case Studies of Patients Charged for Medical Care in Ontario’s Private Clinics, featured evidence from more than a hundred patients about user fees being charged in Ontario’s private clinics. The Health Coalition held press conferences to release the report with patients who have been charged hundreds or even thousands of dollars for access to care by these for-profit clinics. Most of the patients are seniors on fixed incomes who were charged up to $8,000 or more for eye surgeries and tests, we found. The fees impose significant financial strain, forcing one patient to go back to work at the age of 71 to pay the bill, and others to fall into debt, use up all their savings, borrow money or go without other needs.
Fact Sheets & Myth Busters
We have produced a number of reports, facts sheets and myth busters and distributed them widely to provide our members and supporters with the information they need to cut through the false claims of the Ford government, including:
• An updated briefing note on the Ford government’s hospital privatization plan
• A fact sheet on the top ten myths about health care privatization
• A fact checker and briefing note on Ford’s health care funding
• Facts re. OHIP coverage for cataract surgery
• Briefing note on the history of public medicare in Canada
• Briefing note and key facts on health care funding
Public Education & Outreach
We have been extremely active educating the public and our members about public health care, privatization, patient rights and the key issues. Our webinars have been attended by more than 1,500 people this year. Our email briefing notes reach more than 100,000 people and our social media reaches up to 300,000 people per month. Our websites also are well used, with 10,000- 20,000 views per month.
History of Public Medicare in Canada
Working with our nursing student interns from Toronto Metropolitan University, we released social media videos, a briefing note and a fact sheet about the history of Public Medicare in Canada. We gave a briefing and featured this information in a webinar attended by more than 200 people.
Long-term care virtual townhall
Working with Will Davidson LLP, we held a virtual townhall to brief people and answer questions about the lawsuits against the long-term care homes for negligence during COVID. The session was well attended with more than 300 people participating. A summary and follow-up information were distributed to participants and posted on our website.
Mass Public Outreach Campaign Briefing & Training Sessions
We held two sessions in March to help educate our members about the mass outreach campaign. More than 360 people attended. Ontario Health Coalition executive director Natalie Mehra briefed participants on the imminent privatization threat, our public education and outreach campaign and held a brief Q&A session.
What OHIP does and does not cover
Under the Skin: How private clinics are embedding illegal user fees into our public health care
This webinar on what OHIP covers and does not cover, and how private clinics are charging patients illegal user fees for care was attended by almost 200 people. We produced a fact sheet, slide show and video and distributed these resources widely. Executive Director Natalie Mehra gave a slide presentation. A lively question and answer period followed with many participants giving examples of the extra-billing and user fees.
Hospital Discharges: the rights of patients and their substitute decision-makers
We held an educational webinar in November on hospital discharges and our executive director Natalie Mehra answered questions with the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly’s Jane Meadus. The webinar was attended by more than 130 people. Follow up materials, including facts and information have been distributed widely.
Zoom Summits on the Ford government’s health care privatization & the fight back
We held 2 Zoom “Summits” in September to regroup with our members and re-focus on our upcoming efforts by briefing our members and supporters, providing an update on what the Ford government is doing with health care in Ontario, and inspiring an organizing drive to get people involved in the next phase of our campaign to fight against privatization. Cumulatively, more than 400 people joined the sessions.
Exposés on private clinics
Working with Ross Sutherland (Kingston Health Coalition) and Kevin Skerrett (Ottawa Health Coalition) we released two new reports about hospital surgery privatization in Kingston and the South Keys private clinic in Ottawa. The reports are excellent and paint a disturbing picture about extraordinary costs, lack of oversight, two-tier health care, safety and quality issues and other problems in these private for-profit clinics.
Kingston Private Clinic Report
We provided support to the Kingston Health Coalition in the release of their new report on the contract between the Kingston hospitals and a for-profit clinic to rent operating rooms and nurses for private cataract surgeries. Ross Sutherland did an amazing job of research, applying for the release of contracts and information through Freedom of Information requests and scrutinizing hundreds of pages of contracts to find that the privatization costs 56% more than if the surgeries were done by the public hospital. He found a slew of contract irregularities. The report garnered a significant amount of local media coverage.
Ottawa Private Clinics Report
We partnered with the Ottawa Health Coalition to release a report about a private clinic that is selling access to primary care (nurse practitioners) for $400 annual fee plus $75 for the first 45 minutes, other costs thereafter, $150 for mental health assessment and a whole slew of other fees. Aside from our serious concerns about the violations of the Canada Health Act and the Commitment to the Future of Medicare Act, this clinic also raises serious issues about the privatization of the ownership of health care services. The clinic is owned by a businessman, not a clinician, who has been convicted of 64 counts of insurance fraud. His partner in another clinic, also not a clinician, was convicted of sexual assault in that clinic where he posed as a health professional.
NP-Led Clinics and Violations of the Canada Health Act
Ontario Health Coalition executive director Natalie Mehra has done many media interviews this year on Nurse Practitioner clinics charging patients out-of-pocket for access to health care. We met with partner organizations and opposition parties’ Health Critics to ensure that we have a common position clarifying that these charges are violations of the Canada Health Act. We issued press releases and supported Private Members’ Bills to stop the charging of patients for primary care and the privatization of these services.
Local Fight Backs
Fighting the closure of the South Niagara hospitals
Having already lost their emergency departments and inpatient acute care services, the provincial government moved forward with the closure of the hospital urgent care centres in Fort Erie and Port Colborne in evenings and weekend – and they are ultimately planning the closure of the hospitals. The Welland Hospital is also at risk of losing its acute inpatient care. With the Niagara Health Coalition and Fort Erie Healthcare SOS, we have done everything possible to stop the closures, organizing leaflets, attending a huge public meeting in Fort Erie to build the fightback, meeting with MPPs and the hospital, organizing protests and press conferences. Local NDP MPPs Wayne Gates and Jeff Burch brought the issues to the Legislature, distributed petitions, held press conferences and supported the tireless work of the Niagara Health Coalition. More is yet to come.
Durham Hospital Press Conference
Together with the West Grey Mayor and local community members, we have been working to fight against the closure of the inpatient beds at the Durham Hospital. We organized a press conference in May. Joining Ontario Health Coalition executive director Natalie Mehra was Kevin Eccles, Mayor of West Grey; Erin Ariss, President of the Ontario Nurses’ Association; JP Hornick, President of OPSEU and Liberal Health Critic Dr. Adil Shamji. The group spoke with the media at Queen’s Park to demand the Ford government declare a moratorium to save the Durham hospital.
Northwest Ontario Hospital Crisis
We organized a press conference with the Mayor of Rainy River, the President of the District’s paramedics’ and hospital workers’ union and the Thunder Bay Health Coalition on the unprecedented crisis in hospital, EMS, and primary care services in northwestern Ontario. All the physicians in Rainy River resigned, leaving the primary care clinic and hospital without physician coverage and the ambulance base in Emo was threatened with impending closure. As a result of the public pressure, locums were found to provide coverage and the provincial government announce new initiatives to improve the supply of physicians in the North.
Trojan Horse Tour
In partnership with OCHU/CUPE, we joined a huge 57-town tour with a 15-foot tall Trojan Horse of privatization. At each stop, there was a mini-rally of hospital workers and health coalition members with speeches and media materials outlining how health care privatization is like a Trojan Horse posing as a gift but hiding within it the destruction of our public health care. Events were well-attended in many towns. Local media reported about the issues, and took video and photos. The participation across Ontario was amazing! Thank you to all who came out.
Local Health Coalitions
The Health Coalition has grown enormously again this year, and along with new individual members, we continued to develop our capacity in local health coalitions. Including thousands of volunteers, the local health coalitions have been extremely active. From Rainy River to Almonte, Oxford County to Grey Bruce, volunteers covered their communities with lawn signs and leaflets, organized buses to attend protests, fought back against local hospital closures, held hearings, released reports, held press conferences and much more.
These dedicated volunteers are the backbone of the Health Coalition. We are deeply grateful for their commitment and tireless work.
Chinese Canadian Health Coalition
Last year, we committed to make measurable progress in working with diverse communities around health care issues. This year we built on those initial efforts. In addition to popular tables at community events, we held 4 in-person discussion meetings with people from the Chinese community in different regions of the GTA, with more than 100 people attending to discuss what is happening with the dismantling of public health care and the concerning rise in privatization. We also held a large Zoom townhall attended by 97 people from the Chinese community in May. We translated our fact sheets and leaflets into Chinese and held multilingual Zoom briefings including significant participation from the Chinese community. A large contingent attended the May protest in Toronto and activism and we are very encouraged to see the growth in activism and interest.
Thank you to the health care unions & labour movement
For almost a century, unions in Ontario have stood alongside farmers, faith communities, veterans and the broader community to fight for public medicare for all. They continue to educate, organize and fightback to safeguard our public health care from cuts and privatization. We are grateful for their principled stand on behalf of all working people. Thank you for being there, always, in solidarity and support.
*****PLEASE NOTE OUR NEW EMAIL ADDRESS – info@OntarioHC.ca *****
We are proud of the difference we make and we hope you are too. This work is only made possible by people who care like you. Please do become a member or donate. It matters!
If you can, please CLICK HERE to donate or become a member.
Ontario Health Coalition, 201-15 Gervais Dr, Toronto, ON M3C 1Y8 | T: 416-441-2502 |
https://www.OntarioHealthCoalition.ca/ | https://linktr.ee/OntarioHealthC
MEDIA ADVISORY: End the Chaos, Build Home Care: Demand CUPE Ontario Health at Home Workers – April 2, 2025
CUPE Representatives to Expose Ford Government’s Home Care Failures
BELLEVILLE, ON –(COMMUNITYWIRE)– The crisis in Ontario’s home care system will be laid bare as CUPE representatives for Ontario Health at Home step forward to demand action.
Michael Hurley, President of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU), and Brett Geneau, a CUPE Representative and Team Assistant at Ontario Health at Home, will address the media to expose the significant instability, dysfunction, and chaos inflicted by the Ford government’s disastrous restructuring of home care.
Hurley, a powerful voice representing over 40,000 hospital workers across Ontario, will provide a crucial historical perspective, tracing the roots of Ontario’s current home care crisis.
Geneau, speaking on behalf of the 1,800 dedicated CUPE members who work for Ontario Health at Home, will deliver an account of the crushing workloads, never-ending workplace instability, and the looming threat of privatization that these workers face daily.
Details:
SPEAKERS:
Michael Hurley, President, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU)
Brett Geneau, CUPE Representative and Ontario Health at Home Team Assistant
DATE:
April 3rd, 2025
TIME:
10:00 a.m.
LOCATION:
Quinte Sport and Wellness Centre (Media Training Room), 265 Cannifton Road, Belleville, ON K8N 4V8
Hurley and Geneau will be available for questions following the statement.
Key Issues:
- The devastating impact of restructuring on the supply and availability of critical home care medical supplies and equipment.
- The crushing workloads and workplace instability endured by Ontario Health at Home workers.
- The concerns about job security and the ever-present threat of privatization hanging over dedicated home care professionals.
- The dangerous increase in workloads and potential ramifications for worker licensing and patient safety.
- A call to action urging the Ford government to support home care workers, end the chaos they’ve created, and commit to building a truly unified public home care system that Ontario residents deserve.
About CUPE
The Canadian Union of Public Employees is Canada’s largest union, representing public sector workers across the country. CUPE members provide vital services to communities, including health care, education, social services, and more.
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Contact
Kevin Taghabon, CUPE Communications
ktaghabon@cupe.ca
647-336-4991
MEDIA ADVISORY: End the Chaos, Build Home Care: Demand CUPE Ontario Health at Home Workers – April 1, 2025
CUPE Representatives to Expose Ford Government’s Home Care Failures
LONDON, ON – The crisis in Ontario’s home care system will be laid bare as CUPE representatives for Ontario Health at Home step forward to demand action.
Michael Hurley, President of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU), and Brett Geneau, a CUPE Representative and Team Assistant at Ontario Health at Home, will address the media to expose the significant instability, dysfunction, and chaos inflicted by the Ford government’s disastrous restructuring of home care.
Hurley, a powerful voice representing over 40,000 hospital workers across Ontario, will provide a crucial historical perspective, tracing the roots of Ontario’s current home care crisis.
Geneau, speaking passionately on behalf of the 1,800 dedicated CUPE members who work for Ontario Health at Home, will deliver a compelling account of the crushing workloads, never-ending workplace instability, and the looming threat of privatization that these workers face daily.
Details:
Speakers:
Michael Hurley, President, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU)
Brett Geneau, CUPE Representative and Ontario Health at Home Team Assistant
Date:
April 1st, 2025
Time:
9:30 a.m.
Location:
CUPE London Area Office 101-350 Oxford Street W, London, ON N6H 1T3
Hurley and Geneau will be available for questions following the statement.
Key Issues to be Addressed:
The devastating impact of restructuring on the supply and availability of critical home care medical supplies and equipment.
The unconscionable crushing workloads and workplace instability endured by Ontario Health at Home workers.
The gnawing concerns about job security and the ever-present threat of privatization hanging over dedicated home care professionals.
The dangerous increase in workloads and the potential ramifications for worker licensing and patient safety.
A powerful call to action urging the Ford government to support home care workers, end the chaos they’ve created, and commit to building a truly unified public home care system that Ontario residents deserve.
About CUPE
The Canadian Union of Public Employees is Canada’s largest union, representing public sector workers across the country. CUPE members provide vital services to communities, including health care, education, social services, and more.
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Contact:
Kevin Taghabon, CUPE Communications
ktaghabon@cupe.ca
647-336-4991
OH atHOME Newsletter #12 – Your January Update
PSLRTA update
On January 21, 2025, Ontario Health atHome and all five unions representing workers in the sector appeared at a hearing before the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB). In a show of solidarity, one representative from each of CUPE’s OH atHome local unions attended the OLRB hearing.
The employer (OH atHome) maintained their position for a 2-unit bargaining configuration. One for professional employees and one for clerical and technical employees.
Of the 5 unions present, 3 unions, OPSEU, COPE and UNIFOR took the position that the board did not have jurisdiction over the proposed changes to the bargaining units. Therefore, there will be a hearing which is scheduled for Friday July 25, 2025. Meanwhile each respective party will need to make submissions to the board prior to the July hearing date.
While we were at the Labour board conducting union business, we used this opportunity to hold a media conference at Queens Park where 3 CUPE local leaders provided a summary of the survey conducted of the sector membership, in the fall of 2024.
From CUPE Ontario Health atHome organizer/rep Brett Geneau:
Join us for a townhall February 11, 2025
Join the conversation on the CUPE OH atHome provincial town hall February 11th, 2025, from 6pm-8pm.
There will be updates on what’s coming next including from CUPE National lawyer Dave Steele on the Public Sector Labour Relations Transition Act (PSLRTA)
CUPE National researcher Doug Allan will review the findings of the survey so many of you filled out late in 2024. There will also be a Q&A period focused on your questions and we’ll discuss the next steps in the sector campaign and how you can get involved.
If you have questions that you would like answered at the town hall, you can submit them to bgeneau@cupe503.com
CUPE sector leaders at a Queen’s Park media conference
Issues identified in a CUPE survey of more than 1000 OH atHome sector members were the focus of a media conference at Queen’s Park on January 21, 2025.
CUPE sector leaders reviewed with media the survey responses and a selection of comments that reflect the current working conditions, morale, and changes to the workplace that restructuring has brought.
Increasing workloads, lack of transparency and uncertainty that adversely affect both patient care and the daily work lives of front-line staff at OH atHome, were among the topics highlighted.
Reporters responded with substantive questions and several media stories about the impacts of the changes to home and community care initiated by the Doug Ford PC government.
Next steps
Our sector campaign will launch new CUPE social media/digital platforms this spring.
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Chaos, frustration, secrecy, overwork plague Ford’s Ontario Health atHome system changes, say more than 1000 front-line voices in recent survey
A recent survey of Ontario Health atHome (OH atHome) community and in-home care coordinators, team assistants and system planners, represented by CUPE points to a health system restructuring that is failing to solve care and access gaps while deepening health service privatization. All these factors are further demoralizing staff who are dealing with increasing workloads and mounting concerns of losing their job.
Taken as a whole, the survey gives insights into the now all too frequent stories from patients and their families about medication, supply and staffing shortages plaguing the home and community care sector.
Overall, 1052 respondents completed the survey, and hundreds took the time to write in thousands of comments about how the system changes are impacting them at work and in their lives. Respondents report very significant frustration with the ongoing restructuring and the uncertainty it creates. Workplace stress, overwork, and a lack of clear management communication were frequent themes. A recurring theme among those who had worked in the field for years was that they have never seen things this bad in the sector.
Brett Geneau, a team assistant from eastern Ontario says “many on the front-lines are frustrated by the endless changes, secrecy and increasing workload. They feel defeated, undervalued. Constantly, we are learning new processes that get changed the next month, so it is very difficult to keep pace with the changes and what managers are telling us what they actually want done. The impact on both patient care and OH atHome staff is adverse, not what this government wants Ontarians to believe.”
The survey findings include the following:
- 74% say workload has increased since the merger into OH atHome;
- A very high percentage of respondents (84%) are concerned about whether they will have their job in the future;
- 62% identify staff retention as a problem;
- 65% say they are concerned about increasing privatization.
“We think that with the sceptre of U.S. tariffs looming and an early provincial election imminent a distracted Premier is missing the instability and uncertainty that years of health system restructuring has brought. There’s a gradual drip, drip of our work being transferred to other agencies that are for-profit, and it is very unclear what our roles will be in the future or even if we will have jobs. We are mostly a female workforce and the way we are being treated would never happen in a male dominated workplace,” says Maxine Laing, a team assistant in the Halton Peel area.
Issues cited in the survey include work being taken over by the contracted service provider organizations (“SPOs”). Others mention the growing role of hospitals, which are themselves struggling to provide adequate patient care under severe underfunding.
“The lack of information from OH atHome about future restructuring plans is a big concern. Despite management and government’s talk about “transparency” we are seeing the opposite on the front-lines. Many say the Ford government is committed to health care privatization, and there is tremendous fear for the loss of our jobs,” says Lorna Shipley a team assistant with Central East Ontario Health atHome.
Over one-half of the survey respondents were team assistants and almost one-quarter were care coordinators. Other small, but significant occupational groups were in finance (2.5%), administration (5.1%) and IT (3.3%). Just over 11% reported other occupations.
Ontario is undergoing the fifth home care restructuring since the last PC government privatized home care. None of these attempts have ended the basic problems that come with compulsory contracting out: low wages, bad working conditions, high staff turnover, and staffing shortages.
OH atHOME Newsletter #11 – Your December Update
For CUPE Ontario Health atHome members, 2024 has been a year of building power, strengthening our voice and coming together as a unified group, demonstrating solidarity and our collective muscle.
Strong participation by CUPE Ontario Health atHome in survey share thousands of comments
Participation by CUPE Ontario Health atHome members from across the province in a CUPE survey probing key issues was resoundingly strong. Hundreds and hundreds took the time to write in thousands of comments about how the constant restructuring of work and changes in health care delivery are adversely affecting them.
What’s clear from the survey responses is that the uncertainty of restructuring is causing exhaustion and anxiety among the OH workforce. The uncertainty must end.
What the survey told us
Job security, privatization, the return to work in the office, and wage harmonization are all identified as key issues.
You can find a report on the survey results here.
We will review the survey again in a town hall meeting in February. Comments and questions from you will help us begin to prepare for bargaining a new collective agreement with Ontario Health atHome.
2023-2024 recap ….and what’s to come
In October, shortly following the 2023 Health Care Workers’ Coordinating Committee conference, the Ford government took another hit at the HCCSS workers by introducing Bill 134, the Convenient Care at Home Act. The Act received Royal Assent in December. Essentially, this Act consolidates all the 14 HCCSS agencies into one service organization named Ontario Health atHome.
On December 6th 2023, all the CUPE HCCSS locals’ bargaining committees were at the negotiating table. Our focus was a wage reopener, as well as launching the Fair Wages Campaign on December 7th.
Members worked extremely hard to get 1700 signatures on a petition calling for better wages by January 16th, 2023. On this day, HCCSS members, along with CUPE Ontario Secretary Treasurer, Yolanda Mclean held a media conference on the grounds of the Ontario Legislature (Queen’s Park). They spoke with the media about the impact of Bill 124 on CUPE HCCSS members and their challenges to pay bills and buy groceries during a time of high inflation and low wages.
On January 24, 2024, over thirty HCCSS members along with the Executives of our CUPE HCCSS locals, travelled from across Ontario for a second day of wage reopener bargaining. The expectation was fair treatment and similar wage offers made to other health sector workers. Unfortunately, what they received was the same inferior and insulting wage offer from December 2023.
The next day, in response CUPE HCCSS members organized a protest in front of the Ontario Treasury Board directly across the street from Queen’s Park. Members chanted, marched and made their voices heard. So much so, that we made the provincial media and turned up the
heat on the government to treat us fairly.
The employer did not offer any further bargaining dates, so members from each of the CUPE locals created a sub committee to launch the next phase of our campaign: Families Can’t Wait, demanding the employer return to the bargaining table for the wage reopener and the next round
of bargaining.
The focus of the Families Can’t Wait campaign was on building member power and reaching a goal of majority participation among members in campaign actions. Everyone rolled up their sleeves, got to work on phone banks to speak with their members one-to-one about the wage reopener and the importance of participating in the next campaign step: Rolling Days of Action.
In May, Rolling Days of Action began with HCCSS members, calling on the Ford government to return to the bargaining table to negotiate fair wages. These actions took place across Ontario starting in Windsor and ending in Nepean.
Big wins
On May 24 and June 7, the bargaining committees were able to negotiate 2% for 2021 and 3% for each year, 2022, 2023. Moreover, they were able to negotiate a one-year collective agreement for the 2024 year to carry them through the proposed merger of the HCCSSs under the Public Sector Labour Relations Transition Act [PSLRTA].
The transfer date and merger of the 14 HCCSS’s took place on June 28, 2024. The employer filed an application under the PSLRTA on October 10, 2024.
The employer proposed 2 province-wide bargaining units; one representing the professional group and
the other representing the administrative, support services and IT both under the umbrella of OHatHome.
All 5 unions that represent OHatHome workers will be at the Labour Board on Jan 21, 2025, addressing the PSLRTA application. There will most likely be union representation votes in the coming months – early 2025.
From Brett Geneau – CUPE Ontario Health atHome organizer/rep
We have much to be proud of as 2024 comes to an end. Let’s reflect on all the hard work we’ve done engaging members and building a stronger union.
2024 began with all of us together, fighting for fair wages. We unified and showed our solidarity to achieve a better contract than what was originally proposed by the employer.
We flexed our muscle by uniting to get all the CUPE members in our sector to sign on to signature boards that we presented MPPs across Ontario. We not only built member engagement, we built community engagement.
Some members stepped up to become leads for their locals to do member organizing for the upcoming PSLTRA (representation) vote. A special member organizing training was held in October for these leads who have since put that knowledge and tools they learned to work.
We launched a survey and due to the hard work and commitment and dedication for a stronger union, with over a thousand members giving their time to fully complete the survey. This action not only shows unity amongst our group, but it shows the dedication and determination to make change.
I have been honoured this past year as well to continue representing Ontario Health @Home for the next two years. Truly, it is a privilege to work with all of you and see that we all have the same struggles and are committed to work together for change. It is great to see that we are organized and committed to fight for what we need and deserve.
As we take break to relax and be with our families and friends during the holidays, rest assured preparations have been put in place to kick start the New Year with full steam ahead.
We’ve come such a long way to unify, engage and build power and this is something we will need to keep moving forward. Build even stronger as we get closer to a union representation vote and our next round of bargaining.
I’m excited about the province-wide town hall we are holding, early in the new year to keep you informed on next steps. So, stay tuned for more info on this.
Wishing you all a restful holiday season.
CUPE Ontario Health Workers Secure a First Contract
Former LHIN employees moved by government to Ontario Health (OH) have secured a first contract.
It was a tough struggle – only fifty members were moved into an organization of over 2,000 employees.
Initially, the Treasury Board and OH outright refused to make any progress on a fair wage structure. Their policy was union busting. But after a media campaign and a strong show of determination by the fifty members, Treasury and OH changed directions and negotiated a first collective agreement that was ratified by a strong majority of CUPE OH workers.
Solidarity works!
Next steps
- Phase Two campaign coming in the new year
Townhall meeting in the new year
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