Media Advisory: Two buses with Hamilton health care staff push for better hospital funding at large Ottawa rally Friday
HAMILTON, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Oct. 26, 2017) - Dozens of Hamilton hospital and long-term care staff, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE 1974), will board several buses early Friday (October 27, 2017) morning and head to Ottawa. There, they will join hundreds of hospital workers from across Ontario for a noon rally at Ottawa's Montfort Hospital calling for better provincial funding for hospitals. The Ottawa rally is organized by the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE), CUPE's hospital division in Ontario.
"Our hospitals in Hamilton are not getting the level of funding needed to deal with an aging and growing population. That's why CUPE 7800 members and other Hamilton health care staff are going to Ottawa. Our goal is improved funding for our hospitals and for hospital care in general. Ontario lags, all but one Canadian province, in funding and patient care," says CUPE 7800 president Dave Murphy.
Two buses with hospital and long-term care staff will leave Hamilton for Ottawa, Friday, at 4:45 a.m., from 970 Upper Wentworth (Toys R Us location).
"Hamilton media are invited to join us on the buses for the trek to Ottawa. Nurses, personal support workers, cleaners and clerical staff are eager to tell first-hand the impacts of provincial underfunding, patient overcrowding and cutbacks," says Heather Neiser, a personal support worker at St. Joseph's Villa and president of CUPE 1404.
The Hamilton group will be among the twenty-five busloads of hospital staff from Sudbury, North Bay, Toronto, Kingston, Peterborough and Durham Region, as well as Ottawa and other eastern Ontario communities, participating in a short march through Ottawa before the 12:00 noon rally at the Montfort Hospital on Montreal Road.
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