Hospital workers accept newly negotiated contract for ratification, re-elect OCHU officers

Delegates to the 2018 convention of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) have unanimously accepted their recently (April 22) negotiated provincial contract settlement for ratification and re‑elected the three, full‑time OCHU officers and the negotiating team that bargained it.

OCHU president and Ottawa native Michael Hurley, first elected in 1990, was re‑elected.

Sharon Richer, from Sudbury, was re‑elected OCHU Secretary-Treasurer.

Louis Rodrigues, a Kingston resident, was re‑elected OCHU First Vice-President.

The OCHU elections “are a strong show of support from the local union leadership for the collective agreement that the bargaining committee has achieved for our members,” said Hurley.

OCHU, the hospital division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), represents 35,000 staff working at 120 hospital sites and long-term care facilities across Ontario.

The re-election of OCHU officers is “also a solid endorsement for a direction of increased activism and membership mobilization. As we face a resurgent Progressive Conservative party which is promising $20 billion in spending cuts, $9 billion of that from health care, advocacy and mobilization will be at the forefront of our response,” Hurley said.