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TORONTO — The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario will continue to lobby Health Minister George Smitherman to end competitive bidding in home care as he prepares his response to Elinor Caplan’s report released today.

Competitive bidding, no matter how you dress it up, puts downward pressure on quality and continuity for home care clients and on wages and benefits for workers,” said CUPE Ontario President Sid Ryan.

We are concerned that this government is not only going to keep competitive bidding alive in home care but also is planning to expand it to all health care services through the local health integration networks (LHINs).”

With the report in hand and the minister’s statement that he intends to respond in the fall, CUPE members working in home care will continue to make their case for:

 

  • a public, non-profit home care system
  • an end to competitive bidding
  • democratization of community care access centres so that they once again represent communities
  • successor rights and other protections for workers.

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For more information, contact:
Sid Ryan, President, CUPE Ontario, 416-209-0066 (cell)
Pat Daley, CUPE Communications, 416-616-6142 (cell)