Maison d’amitié is demanding deep cuts to the wages, benefits and conditions of its exclusively female workforce. And to increase the pressure for its demands, negotiators for the agency have set November 20 as the deadline for a lockout or strike.

“The tactics used by Maison d’amitié are familiar to anyone who has experienced abuse,” said Jacynthe Barbeau of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the union that represents workers at the agency.

“The mission of Maison d’amitié is to support women and children who are fleeing violence and abuse. Yet this same organization is demanding that its own workers choose between providing these services to the vulnerable people who rely on them, and taking severe cuts in their already modest working conditions.

To the union, it smacks of intimidation and reprisal against a group of women workers who dared to try to improve their working conditions by joining a union.

“That this behaviour comes from an agency that is supposed to protect women from abuse is even more shocking and reprehensible,” said Barbeau.

Maison d’amitié’s demands include drastic cuts to workers’ wages and benefits, including sick leave, medical leave, and eligibility for paid vacation and statutory holidays. The agency also wants to hire any new staff at lower rates of pay and benefits.

The agency has offered no justification for its demands; its funding from the Ministry of Community and Social Services has remained stable. But its proposals would reduce workers’ wages and benefits to levels below those that existed before its workforce voted to unionize.

“It is shocking that Maison d’amitié would put services to vulnerable women and children at risk instead of negotiating a fair deal with its workers. And it is shameful that this same agency would try to coerce women workers into accepting a bad deal,” said Barbeau.

“People in Ottawa should be appalled at Maison d’amitié’s betrayal of its own values.”

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For more information, contact

Jacynthe Barbeau, CUPE National Representative, 819-351-2704

Mary Unan, CUPE Communications, 647-390-9839

MU:ew

COPE491

Ontario-wide, 68 per cent of registered practical nurses (RPN) and personal support workers (PSWs), said they had experienced at least one incident of physical violence in the hospital such as punching, hitting, or having things thrown at them, in the last year. Nearly 20 per cent said they’ve been physically assaulted nine times or more in the last year.

In a RPN and PSW poll sampling from Ottawa area hospitals, 64 per cent of respondents say that they’ve experienced at least one incident of physical violence in the year. That’s a rate slightly below the 68 per cent provincial average. However, 25 per cent of Ottawa respondents say they’ve experienced some form of physical violence at least nine times in the last year, which is higher than the provincial average of 20 per cent.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), through its hospital division, the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE), polled 1,976 members working in hospitals in seven Ontario communities including Ottawa earlier this fall. The poll findings were released in Ottawa by OCHU president Michael Hurley and Scott Sharp, a personal support worker, who was thrown through a wall by a very disturbed patient at a Guelph hospital and is, over two years later, struggling to recover and return to work.

“The level of physical violence that I experienced and that so many other hospital staff experience every day, scars the body and it scars the soul. Not enough is being done by the hospitals to create a culture where violent behaviour is simply not tolerated. Instead the victims of violence are to a large extent, simply swept under the carpet,” says Sharp.

Among the many disturbing findings is that Ontario-wide 42 per cent of nurses and personal support workers report having experienced at least one incident in the past year of sexual harassment or assault.

“Hospital management is scandalously complacent about an environment where their largely female staff are frequently hit and sexually harassed and sexually assaulted. Managers see this as just part of our jobs. One staff member who was sexually assaulted was told by her supervisor that the patient must have been sexually frustrated. People working in health care should have the same rights not to be physically or sexually assaulted or harassed as any other person,” says Hurley.

The Ontario results show that 44 per cent of RPNs and PSWs do not agree that their employer protects them and their co-workers effectively from violence. “Ontario hospitals should be leaders in workplace violence prevention. The reality, regrettably is the opposite,” says Hurley.

Even hospital staff in other support occupations experience violence. In the province-wide polling 24 per cent said that they’ve been pushed, hit or had things thrown at them at least once in the past year.

OCHU/CUPE is calling on the federal and provincial governments for legislative and legal changes to protect health care staff.

-30-

For more information please contact:

Michael Hurley                    President, OCHU/CUPE                                  416-884-0770

Stella Yeadon                    CUPE Communications                                    416-559-9300

www.epidemicofviolence.ca

“CUPE has been calling for a review and overhaul of the funding formula for years,” said Terri Preston, who chairs CUPE’s education sector in Ontario. “The analysis provided by CPE adds to the growing body of evidence that this is urgent. It’s clear that the current funding formula is inadequate to meet the needs of students, communities, and education workers.”

A funding formula reliant mainly on head counts and based on the notion that schools are just a collection of classrooms will never meet the needs of students. Students and parents live this reality every day, and CUPE’s custodial and maintenance workers have long pointed this out.

“The lack of funding for maintenance and infrastructure repair creates cascading problems,” said Vern Andrus, trades representative for CUPE’s education sector workers, and a head custodian with the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board. “When we have to close down part of an aging building because we don’t have the funds to maintain or repair it, students get squeezed, and the learning environment suffers. When maintenance and infrastructure budgets are stripped of funds to pay for other vital but underfunded programs – like mandated small class sizes or full-day kindergarten – kids suffer. We know very well that the physical infrastructure of schools contributes to the learning environment of the child.”

“A formula that is averaged out across school boards without regard for differences in geography, demographics and building age can never be responsive to the diverse needs of students in Ontario,” said Preston. “CPE has pointed out that by the end of 2019 the deferred maintenance budget total will have increased yet again. They’ve also pointed out the glaring absence of a provincial standard for building maintenance. It’s just not sustainable. We support in particular CPE’s call for a complete review of the funding formula in every respect, and their call for an increase of the operations and maintenance budget by at least 8.7%, to meet a consistent province-wide standard.”

CUPE represents 55,000 workers in the education sector, across all four school board systems (English and French, Catholic and public), including educational assistants, early childhood educators, custodians, tradespeople, school administrators, payroll and IT clerks, library technicians and more.

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For more information:

Andrea Addario, CUPE Communications, 416-738-4329

AA:gb

cope491

Workers at Taggart Family Y, Ruddy Family Y and Avalon Public School child care centres voted this week to ratify a new three-year collective agreement that provides modest wage increases, better vacation entitlement, greater recognition of workers’ seniority, and greater flexibility around sick and special leave.

Representatives of the National Capital Region YMCA-YWCA have also ratified the agreement.

This round of bargaining between the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the YMCA-YWCA stands in contrast to negotiations last year, which saw Y child care workers take part in a two-day strike.

“Bill 148 – and the new employment standards it is expected to introduce next year – played a role in helping us to achieve a fair deal for these workers,” said Michel Revelin of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents child care workers at the National Capital Region YMCA-YWCA. “The improvements that the Bill is expected to bring allowed us to focus our attention on making gains elsewhere for the workers who deliver high-quality child care services at the Y.

“CUPE enjoyed a respectful and constructive round of bargaining with the YMCA-YWCA and we believe it produced a fair contract that recognizes the value of CUPE members’ work. We are confident that this collective agreement will play a positive role in enhancing the stability and quality of child care services at YMCA-YWCA,” said Revelin.

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Michel Revelin, CUPE National Representative, 416-822-3779

Mary Unan, CUPE Communications, 647-390-9839

Beginning late last week, dozens of volunteers began putting up 500 lawn signs bearing the message ‘CUPE 3572 Workers Make It Possible at Georgina Community Living’.

“We’re thrilled that so many people in the community have taken a sign to show their support for the work that our members do every day,” said Lisa Thompson, President of CUPE 3572.

The Union, which represents staff at Community Living Georgina (CLG), is currently attempting to negotiate a new collective agreement with their employer. Thompson said the signs are one part of a larger effort by members of the union to raise awareness of the important work they do to help people live fuller, more independent lives.

“We are holding a public meeting next week for people with loved ones who are either CLG residents or make use of the agency’s day programs, and our members are very excited to be participating in this year’s Santa Claus Parade in Keswick,” she said.

Thompson thanked residents who offered up their front lawns, as well as the volunteers and supporters helping to put up the signs.

“It was very gratifying to see so much support in the community for our members,” she said.

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For more information, please contact:

Lisa Thompson, CUPE 3572 President, 289-231-1269

Kevin Wilson, CUPE Communications, 416-821-6641

COPE491/EW

While transgendered people still face significant discrimination, we are also witnessing unprecedented signs of acceptance. Just weeks ago, the small catholic town of Très-Saint-Redempteur in Quebec elected Julie Lemieux as Canada's first openly transgender mayor.

Thanks to the work of trans people and their allies, you can no longer be discriminated against on the grounds of your gender identity or gender expression.  Though this protection was won in 2012 for people in Ontario, these protections were finally added to the Canadian Human Rights Act in June of this year.

CUPE Ontario is proud to support our own transgendered members and activist whose contribution to our communities and our movement is critical to our success.  It is only by standing proudly together that we will succeed in winning improvements for workers in this province.

We take pride in the fact that CUPE is a union that has helped lead the fight for trans rights in Ontario. Thanks to CUPE Ontario activist Martine Stonehouse, people who find themselves trapped in the wrong body are no longer forced to live with it because they can’t afford the necessary gender reassignment surgery.

Through Martine’s fight at the Ontario Human Rights Commission and the financial support she received from our union, the Ontario government was forced to cover this vital surgery under OHIP.  Coming out as trans gendered is a difficult process for most, but CUPE Ontario members can be proud that through our work, access to necessary surgery is not one of the barriers they have to face.

Though it is true real advancements have been made in trans rights, we can’t ignore this work is far from complete.

Trans youth struggle with mental health problems at an alarming level.  For many, this manifests in the form of self-harm and attempted suicide.  Far too many succeed.

While we celebrate our accomplishments, we must remember and honour the lives of trans-identified people who have died due to transphobia, hate crimes, illness, substance use, suicide, or murder.

Until we can create a world where no one faces bullying, harassment and discrimination for simply being who they are, it is up to all of us to stand with trans people, against the bigotry and hate that is so damaging to our workplaces and our communities.

SJ/KJM: COPE491

“I’ve never heard such an outrageous bunch of hooey in my life,” says CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn. “The Liberals have created this crisis in post secondary education by underfunding it year over year, and they’ve sat back and allowed the colleges to refuse to bargain with workers for the last two weeks, and now it’s the NDP’s fault – come on!”

“We should be celebrating the fact that at least one party has had the guts to stand up for workers constitutionally protected rights to free collective bargaining in the Ontario legislature,” says Hahn. “The Liberals like to talk about being a friend to working people, but when the chips are down, it’s workers and our rights that they throw under the bus to try and coverup their mishandling of this important strike. It’s shameful.”

In an employer forced vote this week, college faculty turned out in staggering numbers to reject the offer by 86% - a move strongly recommended by their bargaining committee. The workers have been fighting to improve the quality of education they provide.

More than 70% per cent of all college faculty are now part-time, which means most teach at multiple schools or hold down other jobs, leaving them unavailable when students need them outside classroom hours.  They are also forced to reapply for the same job every 4 months – the very definition of precarity.

“The government should be directing the Colleges to get back to the table to finally bargain a fair deal that respects the important work of college faculty and gets students back to learning,” says Hahn. “Back to work legislation is no solution. It violates worker’s fundamental rights and it completely let’s the Colleges off the hook for addressing the very real and significant problem the abuse of part-time teaching is having on the quality of education in our provinces colleges.”

CUPE Ontario stand proudly in solidarity with the brave OPSEU members that continue to walk the picket line and applauds the NDP for doing the right thing by standing up for workers rights in our legislature.

Despite two days of negotiations with a provincial mediator, Maison d’amitié continued to demand deep cuts to the wages, benefits and conditions of its female workforce, as well as the elimination of benefits for part-time staff, who make up approximately about two-thirds of the 36 workers at Maison d’amitié.

Negotiators for the agency persisted in their demands for massive clawbacks, despite the fact that government funding for Maison d’amitié is stable and the agency is not in any financial crisis.

Maison d’amitié also refused to withdraw its deadline of November 20 for a strike or lockout.

In spite of the pressure, CUPE members maintained that Maison d’amitié’s approach not only hurts workers, but harms services for vulnerable women and families.

“CUPE members want to provide consistent, reliable and excellent services to the women who rely on them. And these kinds of high-quality services can only be provided by caring and experienced workers who are secure in their jobs,” said CUPE representative Jacynthe Barbeau.

“By contrast, Maison d’amitié’s demands will only create more precarious, poorly paid jobs, which will in turn lead to a revolving door of workers. This won’t give women who are fleeing violence the continuity of care and effective counselling they need; only a secure and stable group of workers can provide that kind of support and assistance.”

Barbeau praised the workers for their willingness to fight for what is best for Maison d’amitié clients, as well as for themselves.

“Maison d’amitié has manufactured this crisis to try to force workers to accept a terrible deal – one that will hurt them and the women and children who use the agency’s services,” said CUPE representative Jacynthe Barbeau.

“How else to interpret Maison d’amitié’s position? It is nothing more than intimidation of women workers for daring to speak with one voic as members of a union.”

Out of consideration and concern for the women and children who take refuge at the two shelters operated by Maison d’amitié, CUPE members will hold their picket line at the offices of the Ministry of Community and Social Services, the agency’s main funder, at 347 Preston Street in Ottawa.

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For more information, contact

Jacynthe Barbeau, CUPE National Representative, 819-351-2704

Mary Unan, CUPE Communications, 647-390-9839

The agreement was reached yesterday afternoon following a marathon round of bargaining.

Details of the tentative agreement will not be released until the members of CUPE 443 have had an opportunity to review its contents and vote on whether or not to accept it.

A membership meeting and ratification vote have been scheduled for November 27.

CUPE 433 represents 46 full-time roads, water, parks and recreation and cemetery workers employed by the City of Owen Sound.

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For more information, please contact:

Kevin Wilson, CUPE Communications, 416-821-6641

The deal ensures that the members of CUPE 5237, who are employed by Maison d’amitié, will continue to deliver vital shelter services to the women who depend on them.

Maison d’amitié had set the clock ticking toward a strike or lockout as of November 20.

The CUPE local will hold a ratification vote for its first collective agreement later this week. Until then, it will not disclose details of the deal until members have had the opportunity to review it and vote.

However, CUPE representative Jacynthe Barbeau noted that “the union was seeking to reach a deal with Maison d’amitié that would ensure that the agency’s services were delivered by workers who were secure in their jobs and respected in their work.”

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For more information, contact

Jacynthe Barbeau, CUPE National Representative, 819-351-2704

Mary Unan, CUPE Communications, 647-390-9839

“Our government needs to do more than track and talk about the opioid crisis. People are dying and that requires action, “says Fred Hahn, President of CUPE Ontario. “Thanks to the volunteers in Moss Park they’ve saved 106 people from dying of an overdose. Their work must continue and that is why we stepped up to provide a safe space for the winter.”

CUPE Ontario agreed to pay for the trailer after a tent provided by the provincial government did not meet fire regulation.

“When dealing with a health crisis, all levels of government should come together to immediately coordinate and implement an effective emergency response, “says Candace Rennick, Secretary-Treasurer of CUPE Ontario. “We’re pleased we’ve been able to step up to fill this one critical gap, but volunteer health provision should never be the answer to an ongoing medical crisis.”

Every day, since August 12, 2017, a collective of over 170 volunteers have set-up and taken down tents in Moss Park. In the first 100 days, Toronto Overdose Prevention Society (TOPS) witnessed 2,611 injections and has stopped or reversed 106 drug poisonings/overdoses.

With winter setting in, freezing temperatures bring an additional risk of death. The new trailer allows TOPS to safely continue their life-saving work in the rapidly dropping temperatures.

“We are calling on all levels of government to step up and provide the resources that are necessary to stop the plague of opioid addiction in its tracks,” says Hahn. “It’s time they stop dancing around the subject and act.”

CUPE is Ontario’s community union, with more than 260,000 members providing quality public services we all rely on, in every part of the province, every day. CUPE Ontario members are proud to work in social services, health care, municipalities, school boards, universities and airlines.

For more information, contact: Sarah Jordison, CUPE Communications, 416-578-5638

New polling, being released on Wednesday (November 22, 2017, 10:00 a.m.) at a media conference at the Greater Sudbury Public Library, Meeting Room 1, 74 MacKenzie Street (Sudbury), shows that assaults on hospital staff, like Mr. Sharp, are happening at “alarming” rates of frequency.

“Whether it is physical, verbal or sexual, Ontario hospital staff face the potential threat of assault with every shift regardless of what type of hospital they work at,” says OCHU president Michael Hurley, who, along with Mr. Sharp, will release the poll findings.

Earlier this fall, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), through its hospital division, the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE), polled 1,976 members (the majority – 1,568 of them women) working in hospitals in seven Ontario communities. The sample included hospital staff working at large urban hospitals, some with forensic psychiatric units, and mid-size hospitals and one rural hospital.

Respondents were asked whether they had experienced different forms of violence and how often – from at least one incident to over nine incidents – in an average year. The poll also probed the prevalence of sexual violence and harassment, and staff perceptions of employer reprisal when workers do report incidents.

A study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that health care workplace violence is an “underreported, ubiquitous and persistent problem that has largely been tolerated and ignored.” Other studies show that staff who provide direct patient care face higher rates of workplace violence than police and corrections officers.

OCHU is asking the province for amendments to the Ontario Occupational Health & Safety Act and the Public Hospitals Act that would better protect hospital staff.

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For more information please contact:

Michael Hurley            President OCHU/CUPE         416-884-0770

Stella Yeadon             CUPE Communications         416-559-9300

http://www.epidemicofviolence.ca

COPE491/EW

Ontario-wide 68 per cent of registered practical nurses (RPN) and personal support workers (PSWs) said they had experienced at least one incident of physical violence in the hospital such as punching, hitting, or having things thrown at them in the last year. Nearly 20 per cent said they’ve been physically assaulted nine times or more in the last year.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), through its hospital division, the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE), polled 1,976 members working in hospitals in seven Ontario communities earlier this fall. The poll findings were released in Peterborough by OCHU president Michael Hurley and Scott Sharp, a personal support worker who was thrown through a wall by a very disturbed patient at a Guelph hospital and is, over two years later, struggling to recover and return to work.

“The level of physical violence that I experienced and that so many other hospital staff experience every day, scars the body and it scars the soul. Not enough is being done by the hospitals to create a culture where violent behaviour is simply not tolerated. Instead, the victims of violence are, to a large extent, simply swept under the carpet,” says Sharp.

Among the many disturbing findings is that, Ontario-wide, 42 per cent of nurses and personal support workers report having experienced at least one incident in the past year of sexual harassment or assault.

“Hospital management is scandalously complacent about an environment where their largely female staff are frequently hit and sexually harassed and sexually assaulted. Managers see this as just part of our jobs. One staff member who was sexually assaulted was told by her supervisor that the patient must have been sexually frustrated. People working in healthcare should have the same rights not to be physically or sexually assaulted or harassed as any other person.” says Hurley

The Ontario results show that 44 per cent of RPNs and PSWs do not agree that their employer protects them and their co-workers effectively from violence. “Ontario hospitals should be leaders in workplace violence prevention. The reality, regrettably, is the opposite,” says Hurley.

Even hospital staff in other support occupations experience violence. In the province-wide polling, 24 per cent said that they’ve been pushed, hit or had things thrown at them at least once in the past year.

OCHU/CUPE is calling on the federal and provincial governments for legislative and legal changes to protect health care staff.

-30-

For more information please contact:

Michael Hurley            President, OCHU/CUPE    416-884-0770

Stella Yeadon             CUPE Communications     416-559-9300

www.epidemicofviolence.ca

COPE491/EW

“Our members were nearly unanimous – they refuse to be intimidated into accepting a contract that degrades the quality of jobs this community depends on,” said Sav Daskalakis, CUPE 416 Parking Authority Unit Chairperson.

The union and the Parking Authority, which is owned by the City of Toronto, have been in negotiations to renew their collective agreement, which expired earlier this year. Negotiations came to an abrupt end earlier this month after the Parking Authority refused to withdraw demands for deep concessions to employee benefits and job security, while proposing a four-year wage freeze.

In response, Parking Authority Unit members held a special meeting yesterday where they were asked to vote on a motion to give their bargaining committee a mandate to take whatever actions the committee deemed necessary to secure a fair collective agreement, up to and including strike action.

Of those in attendance, 98.5 per cent voted in favour of giving their bargaining committee a mandate to take strike action, if deemed necessary by the committee.

“The Parking Authority generates significant revenues for its owner, the City of Toronto. The city should be under no illusions that the staff who help the authority fulfil its important role should have to agree to poorer working conditions, less stable, employment while watching their wages eroded by inflation for the next four years,” said Daskalakis.

“Our members sent the strongest possible message yesterday that they won’t be bullied into accepting a contract that harms good jobs that our community depends on. I sincerely hope that the City’s negotiators got the message and come to the table ready to negotiate, rather than just dictate,” he added.

The two sides are scheduled to resume bargaining on November 24.

In addition to the Toronto Parking Authority, CUPE 416 represents some 6,000 members working in the City of Toronto’s ‘outside’ divisions, Toronto Community Housing, Toronto Paramedic Services, Toronto Ports Authority, Enwave and Yorktown Family Services.

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For more information, please contact:

Matt Figliano, TCEU CUPE 416, Spokesperson, 647-457-1201

Kevin Wilson, CUPE Communications, 416-821-6641

KW:na/COPE491

“I walk in the footsteps of many powerful child care champions,” said Carrie Lynn, when accepting her award at the OFL convention on Tuesday. “We are at an important point in the fight for truly affordable, publicly run child care that meets the needs of all children.”

She pointed out that recent government announcements for new child care spaces would only meet the needs of two out of five Ontario children. She also highlighted that private companies being traded on the TSX are trying to get their hands on the funding for those spaces, diverting money from services to shareholder profits.

“We must be vigilant that all public funding goes only to publicly run, not-for-profit child care services,” Carrie Lynn said. “We must create a system where every child that needs care gets a space in a fully regulated, public child care center.”

Carrie Lynn recognizes that a strong sustainable child care system is dependant on the workers that provide the care. The chronically low wages in this female dominated sector has lead her to combine her work as a child care advocate with the fight to erase the gendered wage gap that exists in Ontario.

“These issues are intrinsically linked,” she said. “If we are ever going to close the gender pay gap we need a robust child care system and if we are going to have a robust child care system the workers need to make enough to live on.”

“It is our collective responsibility to make sure this happens,” she concluded, thanking the delegation for honouring her with the award.

Ontario-wide 68 per cent of registered practical nurses (RPN) and personal support workers (PSWs) said they had experienced at least one incident of physical violence in the hospital such as punching, hitting, or having things thrown at them, in the last year. Nearly 20 per cent said they’ve been physically assaulted nine times or more in the last year.

In a RPN and PSW poll sampling from Sudbury’s Health Sciences North, 69 per cent of respondents say that they’ve experienced at least one incident of physical violence in the year. That’s a slightly higher rate than the 68 per cent provincial average.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), through its hospital division, the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE), polled 1,976 members working in hospitals in seven Ontario communities, including Sudbury, earlier this fall. The poll findings were released in Sudbury by OCHU president Michael Hurley and Scott Sharp, a personal support worker who was thrown through a wall by a very disturbed patient at a Guelph hospital and is, over two years later, struggling to recover and return to work.

“The level of physical violence that I experienced and that so many other hospital staff experience every day, scars the body and it scars the soul. Not enough is being done by the hospitals to create a culture where violent behaviour is simply not tolerated. Instead, the victims of violence are, to a large extent, simply swept under the carpet,” says Sharp.

Among the many disturbing findings is that, Ontario-wide, 42 per cent of nurses and personal support workers report having experienced at least one incident in the past year of sexual harassment or assault.

“Hospital management is scandalously complacent about an environment where their largely female staff are frequently hit and sexually harassed and sexually assaulted. Managers see this as just part of our jobs. One staff member who was sexually assaulted was told by her supervisor that the patient must have been sexually frustrated. People working in health care should have the same rights not to be physically or sexually assaulted or harassed as any other person,” says Hurley

The Ontario results show that 44 per cent of RPNs and PSWs do not agree that their employer protects them and their co-workers effectively from violence. “Ontario hospitals should be leaders in workplace violence prevention. The reality, regrettably, is the opposite,” says Hurley.

Even hospital staff in other support occupations experience violence. In the province-wide polling, 24 per cent said that they’ve been pushed, hit or had things thrown at them at least once in the past year.

OCHU/CUPE is calling on the federal and provincial governments for legislative and legal changes to protect health care staff.

-30-

For more information please contact:

Michael Hurley                    President, OCHU/CUPE                                  416-884-0770

Stella Yeadon                    CUPE Communications                                    416-559-9300

www.epidemicofviolence.ca

A new Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) poll conducted earlier this fall of 1,976 hospital staff in seven Ontario communities showed that province-wide, 68 per cent of registered practical nurses (RPN) and personal support workers (PSWs) said they had experienced at least one incident of physical violence in the hospital, such as punching, hitting, or having things thrown at them, in the last year.

Following the firing of a North Bay Regional Health Centre nurse for speaking publicly about workplace violence, OCHU conducted a similar poll. Eighty-five per cent of the nurses and PSWs polled in the late winter of 2016 said they experienced at least one incident of physical violence, such as pushing, hitting or having things thrown at them in a twelve-month period.

A comparison of the two polls shows that North Bay hospital staff are 18 per cent more likely to be assaulted, said OCHU president Michael Hurley at a North Bay media conference today. “When we released the original poll, we said that North Bay direct care staff were dealing with disproportionately higher rates of workplace violence. Now this new provincial polling shows that frequency is significant.”

Scott Sharp, a personal support worker who was thrown through a wall by a very disturbed patient at a Guelph hospital and is, over two years later struggling to recover and return to work, joined Hurley in North Bay to release the latest poll findings.

“The level of physical violence that I experienced and that so many other hospital staff experience every day, scars the body and it scars the soul. Not enough is being done by the hospitals to create a culture where violent behaviour is simply not tolerated. Instead, the victims of violence are, to a large extent, simply swept under the carpet,” says Sharp.

Among the many disturbing findings in the 2017 polling, is that, Ontario-wide, 42 per cent of nurses and personal support workers report having experienced at least one incident in the past year of sexual harassment or assault. However, the 2016 North Bay hospital staff poll showed a much higher rate of sexual harassment or assault of 53 per cent for the same direct care staff.

“Hospital management is scandalously complacent about an environment where their largely female staff are frequently hit and sexually harassed and sexually assaulted. Managers see this as just part of our jobs. One staff member who was sexually assaulted was told by her supervisor that the patient must have been sexually frustrated. People working in health care should have the same rights not to be physically or sexually assaulted or harassed as any other person,” says Hurley.

In the 2016 North Bay poll, 51 per cent responded that they were afraid of reprisal if they spoke up about an incident of violence. The 2017 Ontario results show that 44 per cent of RPNs and PSWs do not agree that their employer protects them and their co-workers effectively from violence. “Ontario hospitals should be leaders in workplace violence prevention. The reality, regrettably, is the opposite,” says Hurley.

Even hospital staff in other support occupations experience violence. In the province-wide polling, 24 per cent said that they’ve been pushed, hit or had things thrown at them at least once in the past year.

OCHU/CUPE is calling on the federal and provincial governments for legislative and legal changes to protect health care staff.

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For more information please contact:

Michael Hurley President, OCHU/CUPE 416-884-0770
Stella Yeadon CUPE Communications 416-559-9300

www.epidemicofviolence.ca

COPE491/EW

The vote came on the heels of back-to-work legislation that ended a five-week strike by Ontario college instructors. The main issue faced by instructors is the reliance of post-secondary institutions on precarious labour, a situation that is unfair to students and teachers alike. At the University of Toronto, Sessional Lecturers deliver over 20% of all undergraduate teaching, yet earn less and have little to no job security.

For Sessional Lecturers at the University of Toronto, there is no clear path to permanent employment, said CUPE 3902 Chair, Pamela Arancibia.

“Many of our members have been working at the University of Toronto for decades. The minimum per-course salary for Sessional Lecturers is less than $15,000, whereas Faculty members earn at least $23,000 for teaching the same courses.”

“That’s less than two-thirds of the pay for the same work,” said Arancibia, “and it doesn’t even touch on the fact that nearly half of all Sessional Lecturers are women, whereas more than 60% of all faculty are men.”

Referring to Bill 148, the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, which passed its third reading in Queen’s Park today, she continued, “Kathleen Wynne’s government recognizes that equal pay for equal work is a crucial issue for Ontario’s workers; so too should the University of Toronto.”

While undergraduate tuition continues to rise and the University of Toronto attracts ever-increasing numbers of foreign students, it refuses to commit to long-term job security for the people delivering many of its undergraduate courses.

Jess Taylor, Spokesperson for the Unit 3 Bargaining Team, said “After four months at the bargaining table, we’ve made some gains in terms of wage increases, but the University believes that our mandate to pave a pathway to permanent employment is unacceptable, and that addressing the precarious nature of our work is fundamentally inconsistent with current hiring practices.”

“Our members sent the strongest possible message to the University,” Taylor added, “and we sincerely hope that this message was received by their negotiators.”

The two sides are scheduled to resume bargaining on 24 November.
Founded in 1973, CUPE 3902 represents more than 9,500 contract academic workers at the University of Toronto.

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For more information, please contact:

Pamela Arancibia, Chair, CUPE 3902, 416-593-7057
Jess Taylor, Unit 3 Chief Spokesperson, 416-593-7057

Kevin Wilson, CUPE Communications, 416-821-6641

KW:na/COPE491

The study, authored by Canadian researchers Dr. Jim Brophy and Dr. Margaret Keith affiliated with the University of Windsor and the University of Stirling in the United Kingdom, and Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU), is featured in a recent edition of ‘NEW SOLUTIONS: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy.’

“Our study looks beyond the numbers to better understand this experience as well as give voice to the health care providers who currently are afraid to speak publicly about this disturbing situation,” explain the researchers.

In extended focus group conversations with staff who experienced violence, they also looked at the availability and impact of post-incident psychological and financial support, under-reporting, threat of reprisal and normalization of violence.

Interviews were conducted with 54 health care staff employed in either acute care hospitals, long-term care, forensic or detoxification centres and had experience in a range of departments. Of the 54 participants, 23 worked in forensic, psychiatric, emergency or dementia care units and those employees said violent incidents occurred regularly, in some cases “everyday.”

Provincial polling of 2,000 Ontario hospital staff released earlier this November found that 68 per cent direct care staff, such as personal support workers and nurses, experienced at least one incident of workplace-related physical violence.

With its focus on personal experiences of assaulted staff, the study suggests that violence against health care staff is not merely an individual episodic problem, but a structural and strategic issue rooted in wider social, economic, organizational and cultural factors.

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For more information, please contact:

Jim Brophy/Margaret Keith    Researchers, University of Stirling                          519-735-2944

Michael Hurley                       President, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions        416-884-0770

Stella Yeadon                        CUPE Communications                                           416-559-9300

COPE491/EW

As Second Vice President for CUPE Ontario, Diversity Vice President for CUPE National, President of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionist Canada and an executive member of CBTU International, Yolanda has dedicated herself to building an inclusive union movement that makes sure the voices of all workers are heard.

Yolanda’s work at the grass roots level has created space for a diversity of voices in the labour movement. She has matched that with work to change leadership structures to make more space for those voices around our top tables.

“Having not just one but multiple voices from marginalized communities at the decision-making table, is absolutely vital to our movement,” Yolanda said. “It is an honour to be given this award, but I’ve got to be honest – I share this with a lot of people. None of us are leaders by ourselves. We are leaders because we work collectively, we inspire each other, we have each other’s backs, and most importantly – we share a vision of a beautiful and fair world.”