FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November
24, 2005
Unions say flawed
Liberal plan will create health care chaos
TORONTO - Four unions
representing almost 200,000 Ontario healthcare workers say
the Liberal government's plan for Local Health Integration
Networks (LHINs) is deeply flawed.
The Ontario Nurses'
Association (ONA), the Service Employees International Union
Local1.on (SEIULocal1.on), the Canadian Union of Public
Employees (CUPE) and the Ontario Public Service Employees
Union (OPSEU) say the LHINs plan:
• Lacks a comprehensive
plan to deal with employees in a way that protects jobs
and improves patient care;
• Threatens access to local health services;
• Reduces accountability by placing decision-making at
arm’s length from the government;
• Ignores the role of doctors, the ‘gatekeepers’ of the
system;
• Takes away local control; no input from front-line
staff ;
• Has the potential to extend the disastrous
‘competitive bidding’ model (now used in home care) to
the entire health care system;
• Is driven by the bottom line, not health care
concerns.
“The unelected, unaccountable
LHINs could pit communities against each other in
competition for scarce health dollars. There will be service
cuts and consolidations, which means job losses. There is no
plan in place to address human resource adjustment issues.
This means more uncertainty for patients. And it allows
politicians to avoid responsibility for their decisions,”
said OPSEU President Leah Casselman.
Despite claims to the
contrary, the McGuinty government is extending the
competitive bidding model that the Harris government put in
place in homecare, to hospitals and long-term care. Studies
on the market model in home care show that “services have
been reduced, care has been compromised, privatization has
increased, and the staff turnover rate is much higher than
for other health care workers. What kind of reward is this
for the billions of dollars citizens are paying into the
Ontario Health Tax?” said Michael Hurley, President of the
Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (CUPE-OCHU).
Sharleen Stewart, president
of SEIU Local 1.on, added: “McGuinty's health care
privatization train has left the station at full steam.
Ontario citizens must ensure it is derailed before two-tier
health care becomes a permanent reality in Ontario.”
“Nurses feel that extending
the for-profit model to local health care delivery will not
fix what ails Ontario’s system. As resources are diverted
from care to private profits, patients and health care
workers will suffer,” said Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN, ONA
President.
The four unions are working
cooperatively to ensure the for-profit model is not extended
to hospitals, long-term care and community-based social
services.
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Contacts: Sheree Bond, ONA
416-964 8833, ext 2430; David Cox, OPSEU 416-788-9197
(cell); Stella Yeadon, CUPE; 416-578-8774; John Van Beek,
SEIU (905) 660-1800, x 319
