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Published May 21, 2024 • Last updated 23 hours ago • 2 minute read
Home and health care workers who work from Belleville to Kingston and belong to the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) will present letters to Bay of Quinte MPP Todd Smith’s office Wednesday demanding a pay increase. Workers are shown in July 2020 protesting a one per cent increase at the time by the provincial government which was later overturned. DEREK BALDWIN FILE
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Home and health care workers who work in Belleville and Kingston say it’s time for the Ford Government and the Treasury Board to come back to the table with a “real offer,” according to Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
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The union said Tuesday local members will make their views known during a visit Wednesday to Ontario Energy Minister Todd Smith’s office in Rossmore.
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Smith, Bay of Quinte MPP, was not immediately available for comment.
A CUPE spokesperson told The Intelligencer via email: “These frontline Home and Community Care Support Service (HCCSS) workers have not received a raise for many years, despite working in brutal conditions throughout the pandemic. Many of these health care workers are struggling to get by financially with the cost-of-living crisis and rising inflation. HCCSS workers provide care to over 400,000 Ontarians every month.”
CUPE said in a media advisory, “a delegation of home and community health care workers will deliver a petition signed by a strong majority of the local’s members to PC MPP Todd Smith, demanding that the Ontario government and the Treasury Board come back to the table to negotiate a fair wage increase on Friday.”
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Unionized CUPE members working in Home and Community Support Services (HCCSS) have not yet settled their wage reopener negotiations after Bill 124 was overturned. The bill capped salary increases for broader public sector workers at one per cent a year, for three years.
“Members of CUPE Local 4788 South East working in home and community care say they’re struggling to make ends meet with the cost-of-living crisis. HCCSS workers include nurses, personal support workers, occupational and physiotherapists, IT and administrative support, and other health care workers who are committed to providing the care that Ontarians need,” CUPE said.
Wednesday’s action is one of several actions held across the province by CUPE members working in home and community care as part of the CUPE HCCSS ‘Workers and Families Can’t Wait’ campaign.
Workers will deliver petition signatures to Smith’s offices on Highway 62 from noon to 1 p.m., CUPE said.
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