Long-Term Care and Retirement Home Workers Launch Campaign with Direct Message: Tell Them to Care

RICHMOND HILL, ON, April 19, 2019 /CNW/ - SEIU Healthcare, a union that represents over 60,000 frontline healthcare workers in Ontario, has launched a public advocacy campaign calling on Ontario's major long-term care and retirement home corporations to invest more profits in care.

The campaign titled "Tell Them To Care," is appealing to families in Ontario to join with the frontline workers who are calling on large for-profit healthcare corporations including Chartwell, Extendicare, Sienna and Revera to fix the systemic problems that arise as a result of chronic understaffing. 

The first television advertisement is set to air Friday, April 19, 2019 during the Toronto Maple Leafs playoff hockey game broadcast on CBC at 7:00 pm EST.

SEIU Healthcare is preparing to bargain with these companies to address the problems that arise from diverting profits away from improving care. Understaffing in long-term care and retirement homes means that staff are overburdened, workplace injuries increase, and isolated seniors don't get the level of care they deserve and require.  

"It's long overdue that these greedy long-term care corporations put resident care ahead of profits," said SEIU Healthcare President Sharleen Stewart. "Frontline healthcare workers are telling us that inadequate staffing levels are a big reason for workplace injury, as well as the increasingly difficult pressures of caring for more seniors with less time."

"If these billion-dollar corporations can afford to pay CEOs millions in compensation and investors tens of millions of dollars in dividends, it's time they seriously address the crisis of understaffing."

"Every day I hear stories from our members about how understaffing affects the care they are able to provide. I hear stories of injuries that could have been prevented if there were adequate staffing levels.  I hear about residents going to dinner in their pajamas because there wasn't enough staff to change them earlier. This is about safety, dignity, and the kind of quality care seniors should expect to receive," added Stewart.

To send a message to the CEOs visit www.TellThemToCare.ca.

Follow the advocacy campaign on the SEIU Healthcare Facebook page. 

SEIU Healthcare represents more than 60,000 healthcare and community service workers across Ontario. 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