Monthly Archives: August 2014

For ParaMed Tuesday’s impending Renfrew strike is just business

Posted on August 28, 2014 | Leave a comment
Photograph of demonstration outside of ParaMed's Ottawa offices. Support came from across the region as ParaMed's Renfrew workers travelled to Ottawa to picket the company's offices. The workers will almost certainly be on strike next Tuesday.

Support came from across the region Wednesday as ParaMed’s Renfrew workers travelled to Ottawa to picket the company’s offices on Hunt Club Road. The workers will almost certainly be on strike next Tuesday.

Wednesday Renfrew County workers for ParaMed Home Health Care held a surprise picket outside the company’s Ottawa offices supported by a number of regional labour activists.

ParaMed has expressed remarkable indifference to an imminent strike that will sideline 110 nursing and home support workers in the region. Most of these workers are low-wage women.

The company has sent many mixed messages to these workers.

They say they want a deal, but refuse to offer any more bargaining dates until three days into a strike. That makes any last minute agreement to avert disruption to service impossible.

They say that in the event of a strike referrals will go to other home care agencies, but then irresponsibly tell workers that they can cross the picket line if they should choose to continue working.

They have also suggested they may shut down permanently.
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Elopement poses urgent questions about Waypoint’s new $474 million building

Posted on August 27, 2014 | 7 comments
Photograph of the fences scaled by a maximum security patient August 23 at Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care.

Fences scaled by a maximum security patient August 23 at Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care.

A new building is often seen as a solution for the updated delivery of health care.

It’s true they usually reduce energy costs. If designed correctly and collaboratively, they can also contribute to higher operational efficiency.

Ontario invested heavily in new hospital buildings under former Premier Dalton McGuinty. At one point we counted about 100 major hospital infrastructure projects in the works – about a third developed as public-private partnerships.

Many of these buildings are now open or will be shortly. After moving in, administrators and staff are discovering the shortcomings that often aren’t evident in the planning stage.

One of them is Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care in Penetanguishene. Waypoint moved both medium and maximum security units into its new $474 million building in May.

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Home Care: Giving and taking away

Posted on August 26, 2014 | Leave a comment
Photograph of ParaMed staff picketing outside of their Pembroke offices in July. 140 Renfrew County home care workers could be on strike as soon as September 2.

ParaMed staff picket outside their Pembroke office in July. 140 Renfrew County home care workers could be on strike as soon as September 2.

The government gives, the home care agencies take away.

Many of OPSEU’s home care agencies are presently at the bargaining table.

You’d think this would be the best of times for the professional and support staff that conducts the often difficult work of caring for Ontario’s homebound frail and elderly. Retaining this group of workers is also important to government bean counters who can add up the cost of lengthy stays in hospital by alternative level of care patients waiting for home care access.

Clearly of all sectors, home care has also become central to the government’s strategy to migrate services into the community.

So why can’t they get it right?

Ontario did recognize there is a significant problem with recruitment and retention in home care, taking what appeared to be a bold step towards increasing specific funding for the sector’s personal support workers (PSWs). PSWs delivered 72.3 per cent of all home care visits in 2012/13 and that percentage is growing as visits by licensed health professionals (nurses, dietitians, social workers and therapists) have been in decline over the past decade.

As we noted yesterday, the turnover is so high among home care PSWs that often the entire staff of an agency can change in less than two years.

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Two-thirds of Ontario PSWs excluded from wage adjustment

Posted on August 25, 2014 | Leave a comment
Photograph of former Health Minister Deb Matthews with Finance Minister Charles Sousa announcing the breakthrough increase for PSWs in April.

Former Health Minister Deb Matthews with Finance Minister Charles Sousa announcing the breakthrough increase for PSWs in April. (Photo: Ontario Government).

It was clear from the start that the much applauded increase for Ontario’s Personal Support Workers was not going to apply to all.

Back in April the government noted that “more than 34,000 of Ontario’s PSWs deliver care, assistance and support to seniors and other people with complex care needs in their own homes and communities.”

That was the target group for Ontario’s new funding aimed at bringing stability to a workforce that was turning over every two years or less. Given the emphasis on continuity of care as a measure of quality, this high level of turnover was evidence of colossal failure the Wynne government couldn’t ignore.

These 34,000 represent only about a third of the PSWs in the province. That means for two-thirds, there will be no additional adjustment outside of their existing collective agreement or individual non-union contract.

Only these 34,000 PSWs will receive the $1.50 an hour increase retroactive to April 1st of this year. Those wage adjustments and retroactive pay are expected in September.

The government has committed to increase the hourly rate for this group by a total of $4 an hour by April 1, 2016. By 2016 the new minimum wage for PSWs will be $16.50/hour.

Given the scope of the plan issued in April, it was no surprise that PSWs working in hospitals and long-term care homes would be excluded by the government from this new funding.

What is surprising is news that the government has arbitrarily excluded a significant group of PSWs who do work within the home and community sector. According to a brief released by CUPE, the government is denying the same increase to those who exclusively provide homemaking and work in community mental health/supportive housing. Earlier descriptions suggested these PSWs would likely be in the target group.

In some cases, these excluded workers are often employed by the same agencies that will be passing on increases to their colleagues who provide personal care.

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