Tag: OPSEU in the News
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OPSEU/SEFPO launches campaign to protect the public by protecting coroners
Ontario’s roughly 300 Investigative Coroners “speak for the dead to protect the living.” But proposed cuts and changes to coroner services could leave the families vulnerable to the opioid crisis, dangerous situations in nursing homes and hospitals, and COVID-19. It’s even more vital that we have the very best coroners. To support coroners – many…
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OPSEU/SEFPO and health care advocates counter privatized health care
News sites from around Ontario are reporting on the efforts of OPSEU/SEFPO and health care advocates to challenge the Ontario government over privatizing health care. Sara Labelle, the chair of OPSEU/SEFPO’s Hospital Professionals Division was widely quoted this month in a number of media reports. “We deliver services in hospitals based on your need, not on…
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CTV News: OPSEU/SEFPO helping lead the fight against health care privatization
CTV News London reports that OPSEU/SEFPO is at the forefront of a push to make privatized health care a top issue in the Ontario election. The union’s chair of the Hospital Professionals Division, Sara Labelle, fears the province is sliding towards greater privatization. “We deliver services in hospitals based on your need, not on the…
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‘Smokey’ Thomas has definitely paid his dues
In a long profile in the Kingston Whig-Standard, OPSEU/SEFPO President Warren (Smokey) Thomas is lauded by friends and family as a caring and principled leader. “Smokey’s a very caring person. It’s just in him to care,” said Thomas’s sister in the profile. “I can’t tell you the number of people he’s helped, inside and outside…
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President Thomas on TVO’s The Agenda to discuss Ontario’s new labour laws
OPSEU/SEFPO President Warren (Smokey) Thomas joined TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin this week to discuss the introduction of the Working for Workers Act and its reform of Ontario’s labour laws. Thomas was joined by Martin Regg Cohn, political columnist with the Toronto Star, and Sheila Block, senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy…
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OPSEU in the News: Doug Ford’s ‘political bombshell’
Toronto Star columnist Martin Regg Cohn featured OPSEU/SEFPO President Warren (Smokey) Thomas in a column this week on the government’s announcement to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Thomas was invited by Unifor President Jerry Dias to attend Premier Doug Ford’s announcement, which was held at one of Unifor’s offices. Cohn noted that…
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OPSEU/SEFPO opposes ‘freedom’ rally against vaccine mandates, passports planned in Sudbury
The website sudbury.com is reporting that a group calling itself “Canadian Frontline Nurses” is expected to participate in an anti-vaccine passport rally in Sudbury this Sunday – and health care unions are united in opposition to the rally, including OPSEU/SEFPO. In a news release, the union’s President, Warren (Smokey) Thomas, said, “Front-line health care workers,…
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Listen: OPSEU/SEFPO President Thomas discusses mandatory vaccines
OPSEU/SEFPO President Warren (Smokey) Thomas joined CityNews Ottawa radio host Rob Snow for a discussion on vaccine mandates and what they mean for public sector employees represented by the union. President Thomas called it a reasonable solution to a very serious health crisis and, “one more measure to keep people safe and beat this pandemic.”…
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OPSEU/SEFPO support for new jail welcomed
OPSEU/SEFPO has told the London Free Press that it supports a new jail to replace the aging, overcrowded Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre (EMDC) – or at least large-scale retrofits and updates. The union represents more than 300 correctional officers at EMDC. OPSEU/SEFPO is also calling for a return to one inmate in a cell to improve…
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Thomas: Ontarians want hospitals fixed and funded, not privatized
The following Op Ed by OPSEU/SEFPO President Warren (Smokey) Thomas was published in the Toronto Sun on Friday, June 25, 2021. Thomas: Ontarians want hospitals fixed and funded, not privatized Public, not private healthcare is the solution to the crisis created by COVID-19 Turn a public crisis into an opportunity to privatize. It’s a familiar…
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Thomas: Enough politics, it’s time for ethics in long-term care
The following Op Ed by OPSEU/SEFPO President Warren (Smokey) Thomas was published in the Toronto Sun on Friday, May 7, 2021. Thomas: Enough politics, it’s time for ethics in long-term care While capping rates of return would be a short-term solution, it’s sure to set the wheels of change in motion Profit vs. care —…
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Thomas: Ford’s fortunes depend on fixing long-term care
OPSEU/SEFPO President Warren (Smokey) Thomas told Sudbury.com the premier’s political future depends on his handling of the report on long-term care homes during the first wave of the pandemic. “My union, we won’t let it go and I don’t think any union will let it go,” Thomas is quoted as saying. “I think if the…
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Media highlight Thomas’s call for paid sick days
One of the many calls for paid sick days by OPSEU/SEFPO President Warren (Smokey) Thomas is featured prominently in the Toronto Sun’s coverage of the Ford government’s paid sick days announcement on April 28. “When a worker experiences symptoms, they should not have to deal with two levels of government, sort through programs, or file…