Frontline Workers Put in the Backseat on Homecare Reforms
RICHMOND HILL, ON, Feb. 25, 2020 /CNW/ - Statement from SEIU Healthcare President Sharleen Stewart in response to the Ford Government's homecare overhaul:
"Frontline workers and their unions were given zero opportunity to provide input into the overhaul of Ontario's homecare system. The legislation appears to have been written behind closed doors with the operators who stand to profit from the reforms.
"Doug Ford's government is handing the keys to our healthcare system to the rich executives who can't properly run their own businesses. Today's announcement proves the Ford government is again putting frontline workers in the backseat to a privatization agenda.
"When the people who exploit nurses and personal support workers are leading the overhaul, taxpayers and families in need of care are right to be worried. And with everything in his government going so wrong, frontline workers do not have the confidence that Doug Ford's government will get this right.
"Without a commitment to raising the wages of low-paid healthcare workers, deliver safe working conditions through adequate training, and secure pensions, any attempt to address the recruitment and retention crisis will fail.
"SEIU Healthcare is calling on Minister Elliott to halt introduction of her legislation until frontline workers and their unions are confident that the needs of nurses and personal support workers, and the needs of the people they care for every day, are thoroughly addressed."
SEIU Healthcare is the largest union in the homecare sector and represents more than 60,000 frontline workers across the healthcare system. The union's members work in hospitals, homecare, nursing and retirement homes, and community services throughout the province. SEIU Healthcare has a strong track record of improving wages, benefits and working conditions for healthcare workers, supporting the training and development needs of its members, and strengthening standards in the management and delivery of patient and client care. www.seiuhealthcare.ca
SOURCE SEIU Healthcare
