Today a delegation of home and community health care workers will deliver a petition signed by a strong majority of the local’s members to Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock Progressive Conservative MPP Laurie Scott, demanding that the Ontario government and the Treasury Board come back to the table and negotiate a fair wage increase.
CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) members working in Home and Community Support Services (HCCSS) have not yet settled their wage reopener negotiations after Bill 124 was overturned. The bill capped salary increases for broader public sector workers at one per cent a year, for three years.
Members of CUPE 3313 working in home and community care say they’re struggling to make ends meet with the cost-of-living crisis.
“Our members are struggling to make ends meet, while the cost of living keeps going up,” said Lorna Shipley, Vice President of CUPE 3313 Campbellford, Haliburton, Lindsay & Port Hope Branches. “The Provincial Government has used unlawful legislation to prevent us from bargaining for a fair wage increase to keep up with inflation and rising costs, and to prevent us from taking collective action to obtain the wages we deserve.”
Over 75 per cent of CUPE 3313 members signed the petition calling on the government to come back to the table.
HCCSS workers include nurses, personal support workers, IT and administrative support, occupational and physiotherapists and other healthcare workers who are committed to providing the care that Ontarians need.
This is the second of eight actions being held across the province by CUPE members working in home and community care.