Dr. Elliot Halparin
President, Ontario Medical Association
525 University Avenue, Suite 300
Toronto, ON M5G 2K7

Dear Dr. Halparin:

First let me congratulate you on your recent election to the position of President of the OMA. I understand one of your first priorities will be to deal with the province-wide physician shortage. There is another critical issue facing our health care system today – critical shortages in a wide range of hospital professions.

OPSEU's 10,000 hospital professionals are an essential part of the health care team in our hospitals. They work with patients both directly and behind the scenes. They provide important rehabilitative, diagnostic and therapeutic services, and include MRI and CT Technologists, Mammography Technologists, EEG Technicians, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, X-Ray and Lab Technologists, Social Workers, Pharmacists, Psychologists and Respiratory Therapists. They're now negotiating a central collective agreement with the Ontario Hospital Association, but talks have broken off and the next step is arbitration.

Without these professionals, the health care system would fall apart. Without these professionals, doctors are only guessing.

My members face long hours, poor pay, miserable working conditions, lack of respect, and problems with workplace health and safety. People are working double shifts, and they’re on standby. They have no time to spend with their families.

Unless conditions improve, more skilled professionals will leave the province or the professions. It will be harder to attract new staff. Our hospitals will be faced with more shortages. A more competitive wage scale would be a good start towards attracting young people into these professions.

OPSEU health science professionals need a competitive contract that improves wages and working conditions. Our members are an essential part of the team and deserve the same respect in bargaining that other health professionals receive.

I know that your members who work together with our dedicated hospital professionals understand the critical recruitment and retention problems in these professions. I encourage you to lend your voice in our support by contacting the Ontario Hospital Association and the Minister of Health to express the importance of substantially improving the central collective agreement for these professionals.

Please call if you would like to discuss these matters further.

Yours truly,

Leah Casselman, President
Ontario Public Service Employees Union