Statement from SEIU Healthcare President on the Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission Report
RICHMOND HILL, ON, April 30, 2021 /CNW/ - SEIU Healthcare, the union that represents over 60,000 frontline healthcare workers in Ontario, has issued the following statement from President Sharleen Stewart:
"This report comes at a time when Ontario's long-term care system remains in disrepair and continues to operate at dangerously low staffing levels. The neglect must end now.
The Commission reaffirmed what we know needs to occur right away:
End exploitative part-time work and provide full-time jobs to workers
Provide higher, universal wages for health care workers, notwithstanding if specific staff classifications like personal support workers (PSW) are employed in hospitals, long-term care, or home care, because a PSW is a PSW is a PSW
End for-profit care delivery from Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) masquerading as nursing home chains because the profit motive has no place in the delivery of care
Follow the SARS Report roadmap and adopt the precautionary principle
Urgently act to achieve four hours of care per resident per day now, not four years from now
Hire as many as 50,000 more staff to ensure quality elder care over the coming decades
Use the tools government already have, such as fines and licence revocation, to ensure compliance from negligent operators
Boost our home care system to compliment long-term care as our population ages
These are just some of the urgent actions needed. And as the report states, stop studying the studies because the time to act is now.
This week SEIU Healthcare lost its fifth member from COVID-19 because they showed up and did their jobs during a pandemic. All women. All workers of colour. Meanwhile, the rich men who run Ontario's big nursing home chains got paid corporate bonuses from the comfort of their homes. We won't stop fighting until healthcare workers receive the physical and economic security they deserve, and the tools to ensure quality care for our seniors.
While this sector languished for decades under successive governments, Premier Ford did everything he could to sweep a full examination of his failures under the carpet from initially refusing to call a public inquiry, to refusing the Commission its requested extension, to dumping thousands of documents on them at the final hour, to Doug Ford himself failing to testify. The Commission's report confirms what we all knew in our bones: that Doug Ford's iron-ring slogan was just a lie to cover for inaction during a public health crisis."
SEIU Healthcare represents more than 60,000 healthcare and community service workers across Ontario. The union's members work in hospitals, homecare, nursing and retirement homes, and community services throughout the province. www.seiuhealthcare.ca
Phoenix Motor Inc. , a leading manufacturer of heavy-duty transit buses and electrification solutions provider for medium-duty vehicles, today announced a strategic partnership with Cennatic Power ("Cennatic"), a wholly owned subsidiary of...
The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz announces that investors with substantial losses have opportunity to lead the securities fraud class action lawsuit against Nextdoor Holdings, Inc. f/k/a Khosla Ventures Acquisition Co. II ("Nextdoor" or the...
Capri Holdings Limited , a global fashion luxury group, today issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) unprecedented challenge to the proposed acquisition of Capri by Tapestry, Inc. :
"Capri Holdings...
WaFd, Inc. (the "Company"), parent company of Washington Federal Bank ("WaFd Bank" or the "Bank"), today announced quarterly earnings after successfully completing the merger of California-based Luther Burbank Corporation ("LBC").
Earnings for the...
Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. ("Mountain Province", the "Company") & today announces production and sales results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024 ("the Quarter" or "Q1 2024") from the Gahcho Kué Diamond Mine ("GK Mine"). All figures...
First Trust Senior Floating Rate Income Fund II (the "Fund") has declared the Fund's regularly scheduled monthly common share distribution in the amount of $0.097 per share payable on May 15, 2024, to shareholders of record as of May 2, 2024. The...