TORONTO -- The Ontario government must bring wages for home care
workers up to hospital wage levels, the union representing striking
nurses at the Hamilton-Wentworth Victorian Order of Nurses says.
“After five years of right-wing restructuring, the home care
system is in a crisis,” said Leah Casselman, president of the
Ontario Public Service Employees Union. “It can’t retain staff
because wages are too low, and wages are too low because of chronic
underfunding on the one hand and a cut-throat competitive bidding
system on the other.
“The Harris government must take responsibility now for
alleviating the suffering and the misery of the sick and frail at
home,” she said.
The government must use its new-found wealth - a projected budget
surplus plus new federal dollars - to provide home care for the 11,000
Ontarians currently suffering on waiting lists, Casselman said.
“Home care is part of the health care system, and must be
recognized as such,” she said. “That means, first, adequate
funding, and second, a system driven by quality, not private profit.”
OPSEU represents 1,500 home care workers in 24 bargaining units in
Ontario's community care sector.
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For more information: Randy Robinson (416) 448-7441; (416) 315-2982
(cell)
