Dear CUPE Ontario Health atHome members, 

Here is your November update.  

Don’t forget to complete the CUPE province wide survey about restructuring, workload, job security and the return to office policy!  Due Friday, November 15 

If you haven’t already, please fill out the Ontario Health atHome 2024 survey! If you have already completed the survey, please ask your co-workers to take a few minutes to do the same. 

The survey will provide a comprehensive province wide understanding of the issues members are facing with the return to office plans, job security and staffing and workload issues. The information gathered will be used to create a report that will be shared with your locals and used to advocate together for improvements to these issues!  

The survey link is available here as well as the Ontario Health at Home website: https://oh-home.cupe.ca/ 

PLSRTA Update 

Last month your Employer filed for PSLRTA, setting in motion the legal process that is likely to lead to union representation votes next year. To recap, the Employer’s position is that worker representation at Ontario Health atHome should be two province wide bargaining units – one for professional employees and the other for office, clerical and technical employees. Unfortunately, the employer is taking the position that several classifications that are unionized in some of the Collective Agreements and not all should be excluded from the union. This is egregious and CUPE will continue to oppose all exclusions of any and all classifications that are unionized. All workers deserve the right to negotiate collectively to improve wages, benefits and working conditions. 

CUPE responded to the Employer’s PSLRTA application at the end of October, outlining our opposition to the exclusion of any positions from the union.  

As a reminder, your collective agreement and the rights contained within it remain in place and you should continue to enforce your collective agreements.  

As always, we will continue to update you as we learn new information about the restructuring and PSLRTA process. 

Member Organizer Training 

Last week a group of members from each of the Ontario Health atHome locals came together for member organizer training. The training focused on building worker power to win the PSLRTA representation votes and move on to negotiate a strong first contract with Ontario Health atHome.  

It was a success! All member organizers worked hard to create a step-by-step plan to reach out to all members in every CUPE Ontario Health atHome bargaining unit and encourage members to take the next step and complete the survey. The first step of organizing plan to build worker power is to make sure a majority of CUPE Ontario Health atHome members fill out the survey! If you would like to get involved with the campaign and join a local phone bank, please contact your local representatives and Brett Geneau, CUPE Ontario Health atHome representative on the CUPE Ontario HCWC, member of CUPE Local 503 and member organizer at: bgeneau@cupe503.com 

Supply Issue  

At the last restructuring committee meeting, members from almost all CUPE Ontario Health atHome locals reported medical supply disruptions. Members reported dealing with a slew of issues related to the supply disruptions, adding more work to their already high workloads. The media picked up on this issue quickly and interviewed Ontario Health atHome clients who said they’d had to order their own medical supplies. One member reported that palliative care patients were being told to move from their homes to a hospital because they weren’t given the appropriate medical supplies.   

This is absolutely unacceptable and is a direct result of the Ford government’s inept preparation for the restructuring of HCCSS into Ontario Health at Home and privatization of medical supply distribution. If you have directly dealt with medical supply disruption issues, please include them in the survey!  

You can read about this issue in more detail here.  

CUPE Home Care in the News 

Last month an op-ed was published in the Toronto Star on behalf of CUPE Home Care leader Connie Ndlovu, outlining the immense issues in Ontario home care.  

You can read the first section of the article here:  

Ontario MPP Caroline Mulroney who is president of the Treasury Board is messing up wage compensation for the least powerful public sector workers. The main victims? Women workers, racialized workers, and precarious workers. 

The Ford government used Bill 124 to suppress the wages of the 1.2 million mostly female broader public sector workers, including nurses, teachers and hospital workers. Unions fought back and the court of appeal found that policy unconstitutional. 

But now chaos reigns. Some workers have been able to go back to the bargaining table and win reasonable increases to make up for the three-year Bill 124 period. But others, in sectors where there is low union density or weak political power, have received little. 

Home care is a case in point. Even before Bill 124, wages and working conditions were far below those in hospitals and long-term-care homes. Few home-care workers are even scheduled to work full-time. Increasing the gap will make community health care less attractive. 

Click this to read the rest of the article: Ford government is sabotaging its own home-care reforms 

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Dear CUPE Ontario Health atHome members, 

As we enter into October, we wanted to give you an important Fall update on all things CUPE Ontario Health at Home.  

Local leaders have reported that many members are concerned about the employer’s return to work policy and expectation to return to the office three days a week starting in October. Members have a number of concerns including the impact on childcare and flexibility, health and safety concerns about being back in the office while we are still experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact on retention and more. 

There are reports managers of a few Ontario Health atHome sites are not being asked to come back into the office or held to the same standards. Please advise CUPE of such examples.  At the very least, managers should be held to the same standard.  

Take Action! 

Together you and your local union can raise these issues with  management directly. Let them know you are unhappy with this change. Put collective pressure on your employer to consider flexible alternatives and ultimately, to convey to central Ontario Health atHome management that the return to the office policy is negatively affecting morale and retention, which affects the important services that CUPE members provide in communities. 

Local leadership can put the return to work policy on the agenda for labour management meetings and invite members to attend to provide examples of the negative impact of the policy on members and morale and take action collectively to put pressure on managements. 

Unfortunately, many collective agreements in this sector do not have strong work from home language. That said, your local executives are reviewing your collective agreements with CUPE National staff and are exploring all options that may be applicable, including analyzing whether the employer’s return to office policy is in compliance with the legal test outlined in the KVP decision outlined below. 

Last but certainly not least, we are launching a survey of the CUPE Ontario Health atHome members on a range of issues including the employer’s return to the office policy. The information collected from the survey will be shared with locals and used to collectively advocate for better working conditions. Please be sure to complete the survey and encourage your co-workers to do likewise. 

What’s the KVP Award?  

The KVP award is a legal case that set out a test for assessing the validity of an employer rule or policy in Canada. Unions have often relied on KVP to challenge employer policies. The KVP test requires that to be enforceable, a policy or rule unilaterally introduced by an employer must satisfy several conditions, including that the policy or rule “should [be] consistently enforced by the company from the time it was introduced.  

We may be able to challenge Ontario Health atHome with the KVP test, particularly if there are examples in your workplace of the Employer not being consistent in rolling out their scheduling policies across all workplaces and to all staff. 

If after reviewing the collective agreement and applying the KVP test you determine the employer has not met the test, your local union should consider filing a policy grievance. 

Staffing & Workload Concerns 

Staffing, workload, and recruitment & retention continue to be major issues at Ontario Health atHome.  

Recently, some Care Coordinators were told that instead of servicing five patients per week, they are now expected to service eight patients per week. This is an enormous increase in workload that Care Coordinators are now expected to take on with no extra support. This is a symptom of recruitment and retention issues across Ontario Health atHome and the health care sector as a whole in Ontario. Underfunding of the important services that CUPE members at Ontario Health atHome provide is forcing members to take on the burden of extra work. This leads to burn out and exhaustion, and contributes to a cycle of retention issues, and in turn increases the workload for other Ontario Health atHome workers. 

If you are a Care Coordinator or Team Assistant who has been asked to take on additional clients or additional work, please notify your local executive.  

Stay tuned for the CUPE Ontario Health atHome restructuring survey! 

In the near future all members should receive a survey with questions about the impact of the return to office plans, job security and staffing and workload issues. The goal is to have a comprehensive understanding of what all 1700 members are experiencing as a result of restructuring and underfunding of the services you provide. The information will be used to generate a report that will be shared with locals and used to advocate for improvements to funding for staffing and working conditions, laying the groundwork for your next round of bargaining with Ontario Health atHome.  

PSLRTA Update 

On October 3rd the employer asked representatives of each of the unions to attend a meeting. At the meeting the employer outlined its position with respect to bargaining unit configuration for the new employer Ontario Health atHome. The employer’s position is that there should be two province wide bargaining units – one for professional employees and the other for office, clerical and technical employees. Unfortunately, the employer also appears to be taking the position that several classifications that are unionized in some of the Collective Agreements should be excluded from the union. Examples of the CUPE positions that the employer is seeking to exclude include the Team Assistant Educator, Clinical Practice Lead, Contract Coordinator, Patient Care Contracts Advisor, Communications Advisor and others. This is an egregious position and CUPE will oppose the exclusion of any and all classifications that are unionized.   

The Employer has indicated that they will file an application for PSLRTA by the end of next week. CUPE will respond to the Employer’s application and position and fight to oppose the exclusion of any positions from the union.   

Your agreement and all the rights contained within it remain in place.  Please continue to enforce your collective agreement with OH atHome and report any changes in staffing to your local representatives as soon as you can. 

As always, we will continue to update you on as we learn new information about the merger. 

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Dear members,  

As the summer quickly passes, we wanted to give you an update on here we’re at in the merger and introduce you to a new website for your sector. This newsletter includes two great interviews from a nurse and Care Coordinator and an Administrative Learning and Development Educator, where they describe their work and the challenges they face on the job.  

A lot has happened this summer: all eight bargaining units have now ratified new collective agreements! The gains made at the bargaining table were thanks to the high participation of all CUPE Ontario Health at Home members who took part in the ‘Workers and Families Can’t Wait’ campaign and the dedication of elected bargaining committees. Your campaign was a success and every single member who signed the petition, asked coworkers to sign and/or attended a day of action should be proud of your work! 

All Ontario Health at Home workers have had to learn new policies and procedures that came with the amalgamation of all 14 HCCSS locals into one on June 28. A PSLRTA application has not yet been filed by the employer, and your current collective agreements remain in place. You should continue to enforce your collective agreement with your new Employer, Ontario Health at Home. Please continue to report any changes in staffing to your local representatives as soon as you can.  

The important work you do: Interviews with two Ontario Health at Home professionals 

There are over 1700 Ontario Health at Home CUPE members across Ontario who work in a variety of settings in home and community care, including personal support workers, occupational and physio therapists, IT and administrative support, team assistants, and other healthcare workers who provide the care that Ontarians need. CUPE also represents nurses in two all-employee bargaining units.  

Two Ontario Health at Home CUPE members, who have a combined 35 years’ experience in home and community care, graciously offered to share their perspectives on the work they do and the challenges they face on the job. 

These interviews have been condensed for readability.  

Marta Halon, Care Coordinator & Registered Nurse, Local 966.08 Mississauga Halton 

As a care coordinator, I provide telephone assessments for our patients who call in. These callers can be any age and have any healthcare issue, in any situation, and the referrals we receive come from all kinds of sources. I assess their eligibility for our services, and based on my assessment, I develop care plans and set up the services they’re eligible for.  

In addition to this, care coordinators navigate our patients through the Ontario healthcare system. This could include helping them gain access to resources in their communities, provide them with resources and information, and we also advocate for our patients with other health care professionals, like calling their family doctor. We help them make health care decisions and problem solve.  

Because this work is done over the phone – and I think this isn’t recognized enough – a key service we provide is listening to patients’ very personal stories. For a lot of our patients, we’re the only health care professional they’ve talked to so far, and sometimes just listening and providing support provides a great comfort to them.  

In September I’ll hit my 24-year mark of working as a Care Coordinator in Ontario, and I absolutely love it. It is absolutely amazing what I’ve learned from patients who call in. Each situation is different, and how people handle life and handle their issues, it’s absolutely rewarding to hear them talk about that.  

But our health care system is ever-changing and is very complex. It’s especially challenging now because of the merger. We just went through a huge change in June and July in a very short period of time. We had to become familiar with a lot of new policies and procedures, and we weren’t really told by our employer of the details of the merger and how that would change our work. And our volumes are very high – they’re absolutely the highest I’ve ever seen, and we’re trying to process this while we’re dealing with these changes. So we’re dealing with a lot of stresses in terms of workload issues. 

Natalia Raymond, Administrative Learning and Development Educator, Local 503 Champlain 

I began 11.5 years ago, in the Champlain region, as a Team Assistant and am now serving as the Administrative Learning and Development Educator.  

My primary responsibilities include managing the onboarding process for new non-clinical administrative staff, developing new projects and procedures, and creating educational materials to enhance staff skills. Additionally, I address training requests from managers and conduct probationary and performance evaluations. 

I’ve encountered some challenges in my role, such as adapting to the ongoing changes in the healthcare sector and managing the complexities associated with organizational mergers. Maintaining my work and personal life balance amid evolving demands can be difficult, and I often need to manage multiple tasks and deadlines while addressing unforeseen issues.

I look forward to transition into a unified organization and am ready to tackle any new challenges. 

CUPE National met with CUPE Ontario Health @Home locals and reviewed novel proposals put forward by OPSEU related to the bargaining unit configuration in the newly merged organization.

After discussion and reflection, CUPE has decided it will not participate in a bargaining council framework. This is not a decision taken lightly – but one that recognizes the importance of finding a bargaining unit structure that empowers Ontario Health @Home workers to achieve the best bargaining results and fits CUPE’s structure.

We will continue to work with other unions in the Ontario health care sector and proceed with the normal labour relations processes under the Public Sector Labour Relations Transition Act.

• Global News Toronto: CUPE Home and Community Support Service workers call for better wages
• Financial Post: CUPE Members Working in Home and Community Care Support Services to Protest at Ontario Treasury Board to Demand a Fair Deal at the Bargaining Table!
• CTV Windsor: Home and community healthcare workers submit petition to MPP for higher wages
• Windsor Star: Home, community health workers protest in Windsor for wage increase
• Windsor News Today: CUPE delivers petition calling for Bill 124 talks to resume
• Peterborough Examiner: CUPE support service workers deliver petition to MPP Laurie Scott
• Kawartha 411: Home And Community Health Care Staff Protest At MPP Laurie Scott’s Office In Lindsay
• Cornwall Standard-Freeholder: CUPE workers deliver petition to MPP Smith’s office
• Orangeville Today: Local Home & Community Care Support Workers Visit Sylvia Jones Office
• Brockville Recorder & Times: Home, health workers to deliver petitions to MPP Smith’s office
• Quinte News: Petition delivered calling for fair wages for home and community health care workers
• Insauga: Health-care workers protest for wage increases at Mississauga MPP office

Dear members,

May was an incredible month for CUPE HCCSS workers! You and your locals brought over a thousand of your members’ petition signatures to MPP offices across the province, demonstrating remarkable worker power and solidarity across locals.

These actions garnered a considerable amount of media attention and were featured on local radio stations, newspapers, online news and TV news channels.

Your member organizing and actions culminated in successful negotiations at the bargaining table on May 24.

You should all be incredibly proud of this work!

The reception at MPP offices varied widely. Some MPP offices accepted the petition signatures graciously and with open arms, while others locked their doors and hid inside their offices.

In Streetsville, staffers at MPP Nina Tangri’s office offered members of Local 966.15 coffee of tea and were very receptive. The staffers at MPP and Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones’ office couldn’t have been less receptive: they locked the doors, closed the blinds, and refused to meet members or accept the petition signatures.

HCCSS Workers and Families Can’t Wait petition signatures were brought to MPPs in Windsor, Lindsay, Bowmanville, Orangeville, Etobicoke , Belleville, Nepean, Brampton and Streetsville.

To culminate an excellent month of worker power, CUPE Ontario ran radio ads calling on the Ford government to respect CUPE HCCSS workers and come back to the bargaining table. These ads were featured on 28 stations across the province. You can listen to a clip of the on CKWF Wolf 101.5 FM in Peterborough here: Audio Link

Where we’re at in Bargaining

On May 24th CUPE HCCSS locals reached an agreement on the Bill 124 wage reopener which includes 2% for 2021, 3% for 2022 and 2023 inclusive of the 1% already received.

On June 7th, all 8 CUPE HCCSS local bargaining committees negotiated tentative agreements that will be presented to members in the coming weeks.

What’s next?

The upcoming ratification of CUPE HCCSS collective agreements will ensure some amount of stability through the coming months of Bill 135 restructuring, a time that will no doubt cause some amount of stress for many.

Once collective agreements are ratified by June 27, 2024, we will be resuming the province wide restructuring committee meetings to continue to share information across CUPE bargaining units and prepare for potential representation votes.

The last months have demonstrated more clearly than ever that CUPE HCCSS members are a force to be reckoned with: united we are stronger than ever!

Dear members,

The public demonstration of the worker power you have been organizing over the last few months as part of the CUPE HCCSS Province wide Workers and Families. Can’t Wait campaign got off to a excellent start on Wednesday when Local 8916 delivered their petitions to MPP Andrew Dowie’s office in Windsor!

Across Ontario, CUPE Home and Community Care Support Service members are calling on the Ford Government to come to the bargaining table on May 24th ready to negotiate a fair wage increase in wage reopener negotiations!

The action was well attended by members of Local 8916 and other CUPE Locals and allies.

Four reporters showed up to cover the action from CTV, The Windsor Star, a radio station and an independent newspaper.

You can watch the full segment here: Healthcare workers submit petition to MPP Dowie | CTV News

And here is the Windsor Star article: Home, community health workers protest in Windsor for wage increase | Windsor Star

And a big shout out to Paulina Van Velzen who did her first on camera interview with CTV! She was a natural, talking from the heart about the important services you provide.

Dear members,

We have forced the government to change its mandate for wage increases for HCCSS workers during the government’s Bill 124 wage suppression period!

The current government used Bill 124 to impose three years of low wage settlements on all broader public sector workers, including HCCSS employees. CUPE and other unions opposed this law and, after years of struggle, defeated it. After much delay, the government conceded defeat and repealed Bill 124.

However, the Treasury Board did not provide an adequate mandate to settle the HCCSS Bill 124 wage re-openers. As a result, all HCCSS workers were unable to bargain a satisfactory wage re-opener with the HCCSSs.

In response, CUPE and others began to campaign to get a satisfactory wage re-opener, bringing a mass electronic signature campaign to Queen’s Park, protesting outside the Treasury Board, raising our case in the media, and writing the Treasury Board president demanding better treatment and explaining why this was in the government’s interest too.

Thanks to your campaign, the HCCSSs have received a new mandate from Treasury to bargain with us. We go back to bargaining with the HCCSSs on May 24.

We have momentum. But we need to keep the pressure up — now more than ever. Following the membership webinar on April 22, hundreds of members signed on to the “Workers and Families Can’t Wait” hand-written petition demanding a fair wage increase, better staffing, and a better quality of care.

We have made progress, but for the next month we must step up and push Treasury’s mandate to get every dollar that we are due.

It’s time to make sure that every single member of all eight CUPE HCCSS bargaining units signs on now! Working together, we can win.

Welcome back the HCCSS newsletter: your one-stop shop for HCCSS updates that matter most.

HCCSS Q&A

What excuse have the HCCSSs offered for not providing a reasonable offer to CUPE for the Bill 124 wage re-opener?

After CUPE and other unions defeated the Ford government’s Bill 124 wage suppression legislation, CUPE re-opened compensation negotiations with the HCCSSs for the three years that had been adversely affected by Bill 124. To date, the HCCSSs have not made a reasonable offer to settle this re-opener, but they have implicitly recognized their offer is insufficient. They say they are awaiting an improved mandate from the Treasury Board.

We note other unions (ONA, COPE) have settled for a similar time-period. The HCCSSs claim this is not a similar situation as these other unions were not bargaining a wage re-opener for retroactive wages but rather a normal collective agreement. We do not accept this excuse. CUPE members should not be penalized for having a collective agreement during the Bill 124 period – a period arbitrarily created by the government. Technicalities over terms of collective agreements are not a reason to treat employees unfairly. We believe we have been patient, but we also believe further delay is not fair to CUPE members – and to the other HCCSS employees who are seeking Bill 124 wage re-openers.

We have written to the Treasury Board president, Caroline Mulroney (Link to letter here) urging her to speed up the internal process within Treasury. Positively, the government now says in its new Budget that it has set aside $2 billion to fund health care compensation settlements, and we expect them to work with all unions in the health care sector to settle re-opener issues in a timely fashion. Meanwhile we are building a powerful campaign to force the government to act more quickly. CUPE HCCSS members have every right to be angry at the PC government for its delay in correcting its failed and unfair policy of wage suppression.

What about OPSEU HCCSS members? Do they have their wage reopener yet?

The employers have not yet negotiated a wage reopener yet with OPSEU HCCSS members either and both OPSEU and CUPE are running campaigns to demand action and fairness. The Provincial Government has settled wage reopener bargaining with crown employees in the Ontario Government, the LCBO and colleges workers. They must do the same with HCCSS members.

Workers & Families Can’t Wait: HCCSS Workers are Ready to Bargain Fair Wages & and Staffing!

On March 8th together we launched the “Workers and Families Can’t Wait” majority hand signature petition calling on the government and HCCSS employers to come to the bargaining table ready to negotiate a fair wage increase and investment in the staffing and services necessary to ensure that all Ontarians have the support they need.

The Provincial Government is giving increases significantly higher than 1% for other broader public sector workers for the period of illegal legislation, and there is no reason they can’t do the same for HCCSS!

The campaign goals are to:

• Have face to face conversations with all CUPE HCCSS members about how their participation in the campaign to build majority worker power to force the Provincial Government and employers back to the table to negotiate a fair wage reopener with HCCSS workers is critical;

• Start conversations with members about what it will take to win – if this next step isn’t enough then we may be moving to strike votes in local bargaining;

• Demonstrate the growing power of CUPE HCCSS members across the province publicly as locals deliver petitions once they reach 60% or more members signatures to local MPP’s calling on MPP’s to demand action.

CUPE HCCSS locals have been meeting to develop plans to talk in person with all members including plans to identify a lead for each work site and a plan to call the members at home who don’t report to the office at all. If you can have conversations with your coworkers about the plan to win in wage reopener bargaining, please contact your Local President to volunteer!

Local Bargaining for 2024 expired Collective Agreements

As part of the Workers & Families Can’t Wait campaign, local bargaining committees should be preparing for local bargaining and requesting bargaining dates from the Employer.

Of the 8 CUPE collective agreements, 6 of the collective agreements expired on March 31, 2024 (ESC, SW, MH, CW, CE and SE), and notice to bargain was sent out prior to the expiry date. Of the other 2 collective agreements, Champlain expires at the end of July and Waterloo Wellington expires December 2024.

The local bargaining committees have started to build their proposals and are on track to enter negotiations. There is a coordinated plan to file for conciliation and your servicing representative will share this information along with coordinated bargaining proposals on wages, and employment security.

Mythbusters

Why do we have to bargain a wage re-opener?

The PC government tried to suppress public sector wages for three years through Bill 124. CUPE and other unions fought back and won, forcing the government to withdraw Bill 124. But now employers and unions must retro-actively re-open wage rates applied under Bill 124 for three past years. CUPE is fighting to get a better deal.

Has any HCCSS union reached a satisfactory settlement of its Bill 124 wage re-opener?

No – but CUPE and OPSEU are campaigning to force the government and the HCCSSs to do better. The government has recently been forced to set aside $2 billion for health sector settlements and we are determined to get a fair deal for HCCSS employees.

Dear members,

We wanted to give you an update about HCCSS central bargaining, the majority petition, our media conference, and next steps.

As you know, over 30 members on the central bargaining committee met with the Employer last week. The employer’s wage proposal was insulting. Your representatives stood strong at the bargaining table and presented the petition to the employer in response. The central bargaining committee stood strong because together we have been organizing, planning and acting: in just the last two months HCCSS locals have held a media conference in front of the Ontario Legislature, organized a petition calling on the government to negotiate a fair increase and protested outside of the Treasury Board’s office when the Employer offered us a terrible wage increase.

The HCCSS Media Conference

On Tuesday, January 16th HCCSS members held a media conference on the grounds of Queens Park right in front of the Ontario Legislature. Unit Vice President for Mississauga Halton HCCSS CUPE Local 966 Maxine Laing and HCCSS Representative for CUPE’s Health Care Workers Coordinating Committee Brett Geneau both spoke about the value of the services members deliver, how our members are struggling to get by and how important it is that the government negotiate a fair and equitable wage increase. CUPE Ontario Secretary Treasurer Yolanda McLean joined us at the podium and provided her support.

We brought four big boards that included the 1700 petition signatures and presented them to two Ontario NDP MPPs, Jill Andrews and Jessica Bell, who will present the signatures to the Ontario Legislature when they are back in session this month.

The media conference was picked up by Global News and Radio Canada. Click here to watch Brett’s interview with Global News Toronto.

HCCSS Majority Petition

In just over a month, over 1700 people from across Ontario signed a petition for a fair wage increase. This means over 1700 emails were sent directly to Premier Doug Ford, President of the Ontario Treasury Board Caroline Mulroney, local MPPs, and Ontario Health President and CEO Matthew Anderson with our targeted messaging. That’s a lot of emails!

Over 52 percent of members working in HCCSS signed the petition, but one Local went above and beyond: Local 101 organized 89 percent of their membership to sign. This Local achieved the highest participation from among our 8 bargaining units by phone banking, sending text blasts, and connecting with their members all through December and January.

Local 101 Unit Chair for HCCSS members Joanne Turnbull said she was “relentless” in contacting her members and explaining the importance of signing and sharing the petition. “Members at our Local’s town hall really understood the significance and were engaged” Joanne said.

She spent “days on end providing a consistent amount of communication and everyone quickly jumped on board.”

We want to recognize that 52 percent of the overall membership of Locals working in HCCSS is something to be proud of. This is just the beginning: we’re getting organized, gaining strength, and putting pressure on the Ford Government to offer us a fair and equitable wage increase!

Protest at the Treasury Board

Last week over 30 members drove across the province and prepared to bargain, but instead members were offered the same insulting wage increase that was offered in December. The central bargaining committee was disappointed and angry.

So instead of heading home with nothing, we decided to make something out of it.

On Thursday, we walked over to the Treasury Board’s office in downtown Toronto and protested for two hours. We brought signs, we chanted, and we brought attention to home care in Ontario.

Global News covered us again and interviewed Brett Geneau a second time.

The segment was the main feature on Global Toronto’s 12pm news that day. The press release for the protest was published in the Financial Post, Yahoo News, and Morning Star.

Next Steps

Right now, we don’t have future bargaining dates scheduled for the wage reopener. The employer has stated that the Treasury Board is signaling that they could change and improve their offer – they ‘ve said it could take months. Stay tuned for next steps in our wage-reopener campaign. Our goal is to put maximum pressure on the Ford government to negotiate fair wage increases for HCCSS workers. Workers cannot wait any longer.

The Employer has told members that the changeover date from HCCSS to SSO (Shared Service Organization) will be June 28. We will keep you updated if we hear any information related to this. We’re also planning to have a town hall meeting soon, so please be on the lookout for an email with details.

As always, if you have any questions, comments or concerns, please contact a member of your Executive team.