If interested in any of the events, education, conferences or conventions, please email info@cupe1883.ca
Ontario workers are sounding the alarm!
Our province is facing its worst public health crisis since the COVID-19 pandemic began almost two years ago. Health care providers are describing it as a “full-blown emergency.” Schools aren’t equipped to protect students and education workers. Most Ontarians still don’t have access to paid sick days.
And the situation is getting worse with each passing day.
There is a dire need for a historic investment in our public services – health, education, and others – to deal with the ravages of this wave and to finally put in place measures to help prevent and mitigate the next one. Yet at every stage of the pandemic, Doug Ford’s government has failed to protect workers and keep our communities safe. It didn’t have to be this way.
This Saturday, the Ontario Federation of Labour will be hosting a province-wide emergency day of action to hold the Ford government accountable.
The action will take place online and is only one hour. Click here to sign up.
In the first part of the meeting, front-line workers in health care, education, and other sectors will let us know the scale of the crisis we’re facing.
In the second part of the meeting, activists will take action in a province-wide Phone Zap of Doug Ford and his government. We will make our demands loud and clear:
This action is just the start of a bigger fight-back. We encourage all of you to join.
And if you’re as angry as we are about what’s happening in Ontario right now, be sure to invite your family, friends, and co-workers. Every voice will make a difference.
Join CUPE leaders, experts, and staff for a Zoom town hall about employer vaccine policies at 6:30pm this Monday, September 13th.
We will be joined by CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn, CUPE Ontario Secretary-Treasurer Candace Rennick, CUPE National Health and Safety Representative Paul Sylvestre, infectious disease expert Dr. Tara Moriarty, and Goldblatt Partners lawyer Daniel Sheppard.
The townhall is open to all CUPE Ontario members and will provide opportunities to ask questions.
Please note we will be offering simultaneous French interpretation.
Register for the Town Hall
In response to the discussion at the August 10, 2021 Committee of the Whole meeting regarding mandatory vaccine responses, we have forwarded the limited information available on Council’s stance to CUPE to review.
CUPE 1883 encourages members to get COVID-19 vaccines that have been proven safe and effective. According to the World Health Organization, the most effective vaccination programs are voluntary and not coercive. Some workers cannot be vaccinated for medical and religious reasons and these workers are protected under the Ontario Human Rights Code and must be accommodated.
Anyone who is not vaccinated must have an employer-provided opportunity to talk with a clinician about any concerns that they have about vaccination and to hear directly why vaccination is safer for them and for their families, and their coworkers, and where applicable, for service recipients they work with.
REGION OF WATERLOO, ON –/COMMUNITYWIRE/– After more than a year of unproductive negotiations, about 1,200 Regional Municipality of Waterloo workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) have filed for a No-Board, which will initiate a 17-day countdown to a strike or a lockout.
The workers, represented by CUPE Locals 5191 and 1883, deliver a range of services including the Region’s paramedics and logistics support, public health, childcare and social assistance. Both union locals have been without a contract for over a year, with the employer unresponsive to the bargaining process.
“The Region of Waterloo has shown little interest in negotiating with us,” said Luke McCann, president of CUPE 5191 and an active paramedic.
“We feel grateful for the opportunity to serve our communities and want to continue working. All we are looking for is the respect of the employer in recognizing the value of our workforce. We deserve a fair deal.”
Noelle Fletcher, president of CUPE 1883 that represents over 900 workers, said the Region of Waterloo had been consistently disrespectful at the workplace and at the bargaining table, to the detriment of the largely female workforce and the services they provide.
“The Region of Waterloo doesn’t seem to care for the services we provide. They voted to close all five of the childcare centres they operate. These were the only centres that were open for essential workers to have care for their children when all others were closed. Their decision will leave over 200 parents stranded while laying off 80 childcare workers,” she said.
Fletcher said that members of her Local are largely concerned about job security, lack of investment in mental health and looming layoffs as the Region continues to cut services.
Workload and lack of support
Both CUPE locals are citing lack of support from the employer to address higher workloads, poor workplace morale and lack of mental health supports.
“Paramedics are burnt out. Our members have stepped up in a huge way in the community. In addition to servicing emergency calls, we have been supporting the community in an ongoing capacity with COVID testing and vaccination clinics, community paramedics supporting home care, and our logistics support members ensuring all ambulances and equipment is effectively sanitized and restocked,” McCann said.
“We have worked throughout the pandemic with little meaningful support from the employer, especially at the bargaining table.”
He referred to the employer’s proposal to eliminate job share positions as an illustration of the Region’s disregard for the workforce. Job share positions allow two workers to share the equivalent of a full-time position.
“Recent employee surveys by the Region of Waterloo identified work-life balance as a key priority. So why are they going after these positions that allow people to care for their children, elderly parents or relatives?”, McCann said.
The paramedics are seeking improvements to paid sick days, and compensation on par with neighbouring municipalities to help address a recruitment and retention problem.
Fletcher from Local 1883 drew a link between the Region’s lack of investment in mental health and its insensitivity to the issue as an employer.
“We lost two members on a weekend, to a mental health related issue and to cancer. Our members were devastated to lose their co-workers but there was no immediate support to access resources, or acknowledgement by the employer,” she said.
She highlighted the case of a member in the community services department – a single parent who couldn’t access adequate psychological counselling support as she went through a traumatic experience of having her two-year old son go through treatment after being diagnosed with a brain tumour.
“We have very limited access to mental health supports. In her case, she had to spend money out-of-pocket for the sake of her own mental health. Meanwhile, she used up all her sick time to care for her son, and then faced an onerous process to apply for long-term disability with the employer’s carrier,” Fletcher said. “We are not asking for much – just simply treat us as human beings.”
About CUPE 1883 & 5191
CUPE 1883 represents approximately 900 workers in public health, childcare, social services, finance, IT, housing, administration, museums, libraries, by-law enforcement, engineering, airport, landfill and transportation.
CUPE 5191 represents about 300 paramedics and logistics staff.
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For more information, please contact:
Zaid Noorsumar, CUPE Communications, 647-995-9859, znoorsumar@cupe.ca
