Group Health Centre health care workers planning for strike

Health care workers at the Group Health Centre are overworked, facing burnout, and struggling to make ends meet with the cost-of-living crisis, but their Employer at the Group Health Centre refuses to offer them a real wage increase.

As a last resort, members of CUPE 894 have voted in favour of a strike. The Local filed a request for a ‘no board’ report and are scheduled to hit the picket lines on July 26.

“We had hoped to reach an equitable agreement at the bargaining table with our Employer, but unfortunately we’ve been offered subpar wages that we just can’t accept,” president of CUPE 894 Tracy Fabbricino says. “Members of CUPE 894 are over worked, stressed, and burned out. Our workloads have increased but our pay hasn’t. Something has to change, and it has to change now.”

Members of CUPE 894 are made up of over 220 various health care workers and clerical support teams, such as registered practical nurses, social workers, physiotherapists, and many more. The Group Health Centre is the only community health care centre in the Sault Ste. Marie area that provides essential services for the community, like ophthalmology, ultrasound, x-ray, cardiac rehab, obstetrics, and Same Day Appointment Clinic available to patients that have a family doctor at the Group Health Centre. 

Earlier this month, members of CUPE 894 launched an online petition calling on their Employer to come back to the table and offer them a real wage increase.

The Group Health Centre is governed by a board of directors and a leadership team comprised of doctors who work at the centre and other professionals in the Sault Ste. Marie area.

Over the last two years the Group Health Centre has de-rostered more than 13,500 patients, and the Centre says more patients are at risk of losing their family doctor this year on top of the 10,000 patient loss that occurred in May. With a population of just over 72,000 in Sault Ste. Marie, almost 30 percent of the community could be without a primary care provider by the end 2024. 

These front-line workers desperately need an equitable wage increase that reflects the cost of living and high inflation rates to battle the recruitment and retention issues the Group Health Centre continues to face.

Members of CUPE 894 will have a float at the Sault Ste. Marie Rotary Parade this Saturday,

July 20 to raise awareness of the incredible work they do as health care workers, day in and day out. They encourage their community to speak with them after the parade.