Tag: COVID-19
-
National Day of Mourning: Reflecting on the importance of safe working conditions
Every year, on April 28, we stop and reflect for the National Day of Mourning. It takes on a new meaning this year as workers on the front-lines who provide public services put their health and lives on the line due to the unprecedented threat of COVID-19. As we know, most of the victims are…
-
OPSEU to government: Fire Elitist LCBO Senior Management
TORONTO – Even in the midst of record sales, the LCBO has rebuffed a call from the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) to provide pandemic recognition pay to its heroic frontline workers and the union’s leadership says it’s clearly time to clean house in the Crown corporation’s executive suite. “Throughout this crisis, we’ve had…
-
Thomas to LCBO, show some recognition for your frontline workers during this pandemic
TORONTO – OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas is calling on the LCBO to follow the lead of the Ford government and provide its front-line workers with some type of pandemic recognition pay. “This is a corporation that pulls in two-billion a year, surely they can afford to recognize the efforts of their workers who are…
-
OPSEU applauds Ford’s pay increase for frontline workers, and won’t collect union dues on it
TORONTO – The leaders of OPSEU are applauding Premier Doug Ford and his government for increasing the pay of a large number of frontline public sector workers in recognition of the vital and dangerous work they’re doing during the pandemic. “The Premier has said he wants to support frontline workers, and he’s keeping his word,”…
-
York University day care centre uses COVID-19 to screen unfair bargaining: OPSEU
Toronto – OPSEU is demanding York University Cooperative Daycare Centre management stop their deceitful bargaining tactics during the COVID-19 global pandemic. The all-female childcare staff at the daycare centre has been working under an expired collective agreement since April 30, 2015. The employer has issued a no-board request – without the customary notice to the…
-
OPSEU joins legal fight to ensure healthcare workers get appropriate PPE to protect against COVID-19
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) has joined the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) in taking Headwaters Healthcare to the provincial labour board for failing to protect workers against COVID-19. The unions say Headwaters failed to take reasonable safety precautions and have violated numerous sections of the Ontario Health and Safety Act. They also…
-
OPSEU corrections members win push for surgical masks
Toronto – In a significant safety win for workers, inmates, and the public, the frontline corrections workers in OPSEU have pushed the government to begin issuing surgical masks to all workers and visitors in the province’s jails. “This was a long struggle, but I’m proud to say that our members and our union never gave…
-
Fight COVID-19 by listening to frontline workers: Almeida’s Passionate Plea
TORONTO – OPSEU First Vice-President/Treasurer Eduardo (Eddy) Almeida says listening to the expertise of front-line workers is the only way to bring COVID-19 to its knees. Almeida appeared on Toronto TV station CP24 on Tuesday and spoke passionately about the outbreak at Brampton’s Ontario Correctional Institute. He put the blame squarely on managers who are…
-
UPDATE: Frequently Asked Questions: Income support for Canadians during COVID-19
Updated April 16, 2020 Note: The answers below were compiled from the information available on the Government of Canada’s website retrieved at https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/cerb-application.htm Section 1: The Canada Emergency Response Benefit Q1. What is the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB)? The CERB provides temporary income support if you lost work due to COVID-19. The benefit is available…
-
The COVID-19 pandemic hammers home the importance of medical laboratory workers
The COVID-19 pandemic has made all of us more aware of the often unseen but incredibly important work that medical laboratory technologists and technicians perform. Their efforts and knowledge are essential to public safety. At OPSEU, we have always been grateful for the work they do. We have stood side-by-side with these professionals since welcoming…
-
OPSEU: Management incompetence led to outbreak at Brampton’s Ontario Correctional Institute
Toronto – OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas is demanding that the Ministry of the Solicitor General crack down on the kind of non-transparent management practices that led to the large COVID-19 outbreak and temporary closure of the award-winning Ontario Correctional Institute (OCI) in Brampton. “This is management incompetence pure and simple,” said Thomas. “For weeks,…
-
Respiratory therapist from OPSEU Local 575 describes life on the front lines
In a Toronto Life article published on April 19, Jen Rajkumar, a respiratory therapist from OPSEU Local 575, describes what life is like for health care workers on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the full story here.
-
OPSEU again protects jobs in LBED
The following statement was issued to all LBED members on April 19: Your divisional executive has ensured that members who work at the LCBO’s Head Office are being protected and nobody will be forced to accept layoffs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. OPSEU and LCBO management have reached an agreement covering 83 head office positions…
-
The death of an era
By Joe Grogan/retired OPSEU Member-Region 5 Decades of cuts to the Ontario public health care system In my own lifetime but especially beginning in the mid-1990s, Ontario Provincial Conservative and Liberal Governments have had the responsibility for restructuring the health care system. They have tried to turn the Universal Public Health Care System more and…
-
Thank you to our Ambulance Communications Officers
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken Ontario through one of its most unsettling times. Some people experience no symptoms; for others, it’s a struggle to breathe, to walk, to speak. In those uncertain moments, it’s comforting for all of us to know that Ontario’s 911 Ambulance Communications Officers are only a short call away – providing…