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Local health care workers who say they struggle to make ends meet are petitioning the provincial government for a wage bump, and Windsor on Wednesday saw the first of a series of protest rallies planned across Ontario.
CUPE members working in the home and community support services sector delivered a petition to the office of MPP Andrew Dowie (PC — Windsor-Tecumseh). The petition demands that the Ontario government and the provincial treasury board negotiate a “fair wage increase.”
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The union said CUPE members working in the sector have not yet settled wage negotiations, given a bill capping salary increases for public sector workers was overturned earlier this year.
Bill 124, the Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, limited the public sector to one-per-cent increases for three years — but the Ford government’s legislation was ruled unconstitutional by the Superior Court of Justice in February.
“In real terms, we have taken a serious pay cut over the last several years. We are sick of the excuses and the delays,” said CUPE Local 8916 president Shaun Steven in a news release.
“Our members work very hard behind the scenes to ensure that members of our community have access to healthcare and support for their needs at home and in community clinics, and we deserve a settlement that takes our hard work and the cost of living into account.”
Dowie was not available to comment ahead of the Star’s mid-day print deadline Wednesday.
CUPE Local 8916 represents roughly 140 workers. The union said more than 85 per cent of its members signed the petition calling on the government to come back to the table.
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