Video: OPSEU at Friday’s big health care rally

In this new video Anna Jover and Emily Visser highlight the voices of several OPSEU activists during Friday’s health care rally at Queen’s Park, including President Warren (Smokey) Thomas. About 5,000 Ontarians came from all corners of the province to protest the increasing privatization of hospital-based services. Earlier this year the province began holding competitions for services provided by existing public hospitals, including diagnostics and cataract surgeries. Those competitions were suspended by incoming Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins, but there has been no word from the Ministry whether this is a pause or whether the competitions would begin again at a later date. Further, the government has kept secret their commissioned Deloitte study that purportedly recommends the transfer of specialized medical laboratory testing to the private sector. When the Local Health Integration Networks were established labour complained that such destructive competitions that left shortages of caregivers in home care would be extended to public hospitals. At the time the government suggested this was no more than scaremongering.