Media Advisory: Stripped of Their Rights, Front Line Workers to Hold a Political Protest in Pembroke at MPP John Yakabuski's Office

Ontario front line workers will hold a political protest at MPP John Yakabuski's office in Pembroke on August 17 at 11:00 a.m. to demand that their basic legal rights be restored.

The Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE (OCHU) and CUPE Ontario are hosting 22 rallies across the province, asking that the government revoke the COVID-19 emergency orders that can indefinitely override front line workers' most important workplace rights.

"Frontline staff have sacrificed a great deal to support the people of Ontario during COVID-19," says Michael Hurley, President of the OCHU/CUPE. "The government has declared the emergency over, yet it has stripped the most important workplace protections from this largely female workforce. For workers revered as heroines, losing the right to keep their shift schedule, to work in the same community, not to have their job eliminated without notice or their parental leaves cancelled is a terrible blow. Many of our members have responsibility for child and elder care and have to be able to plan their lives. The government is disloyal to frontline workers and we trust that the people of Ontario will support us in this struggle to restore our rights."

"This is an extraordinary, undemocratic, and unprecedented abuse of power. Front-line heroes ? who put themselves and their families at risk to help keep us safe and who continued to deliver critical services in a pandemic ? deserve better than unnecessary attacks on their legal rights," says Fred Hahn, CUPE Ontario President. "And we'll keep organizing and applying pressure in communities until emergency orders that impact our members' rights are fully revoked."

The political protests will be held from August through to October 2020 at PC MPP offices in Pembroke, Brockville, Cornwall, Kenora, Fort Frances, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, North Bay, Ottawa, Stratford, Guelph, Halton, Mississauga, Cobourg, Peterborough, Oshawa, Lindsay, Windsor, Hamilton, Niagara, and Toronto. For rally times, locations, and updates, visit www.ochu.on.ca.

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