Unifor Local 302 President’s Report- January 23, 2023

On November 29, 2022, an Ontario Court Judge ruled that Bill 124 was unconstitutional, legislation that capped pay increases for most public sector workers at one percent for three years. The decision found the Bill infringed on the applicants’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

The Ford Government said that same day they would be appealing the decision, they had thirty days to appeal, and they did on the thirtieth day. The government argues the court “erred in holding that the financial impact of the Act’s limits on the compensation increase substantially interferes with the respondents’ rights to a meaningful process of collective bargaining”.

In Ford’s first news conference of 2023 he told reporters, “Let me be very clear to the folks out there. You can hear whatever it is, Bill 124 is lapsed”, arguing it “doesn’t exist”, as his government continues to appeal a court decision that struck down the legislation.

Ford was also questioned about the Bill amid media reports that found the Government knew the legislation could negatively contribute to the health care staffing crisis. He argued the claim was “not accurate” because more than 60,000 nurses have been hired since 2018. We know nurses are leaving just as quickly as they are being hired.

A Unifor townhall on the Health Care Crisis, took place on January 12, 2023, where we heard several examples across the country of people dying due to wait times in the ER’s.

Unions representing health care workers have been advocating for better working conditions and pay amid a staffing shortage for most of the pandemic. Ford said his government is looking into options to relieve the burden by having “independent health centers with the same standards” do some of the work. Ford said, “people don’t care where they have to go as long as it has the same regulations. Same top notch that are working in the hospital…and knock off simple stuff. These are no brainers that are backlogged in the health care system”. We saw this take affect last week when it was announced that simple procedures will be done in private clinics, and that Ontario will honour the credentials of other provinces in the health care sector.

We used to say Ford has no plan for health care in Ontario, but now we see this is the plan of the Ford government for health care.

Unifor is working with four other labour groups from coast to coast to push back against governments that are destroying our public health care system. We are starting with the hospital sector and will move into long-term care and other sectors as the plan rolls out. We have a conference call tomorrow night with St Mary’s hospital Kitchener, and sister hospital St Joseph’s in Hamilton. The discussion will be about actions that will take place in the hospitals. These may include over the next few months, a week of taking your breaks, wearing a certain scrub top for a week, refusing overtime for a week, etc. We must stop the privatization of health care in this country.

International Women’s Day Breakfast

This year’s International Women’s Day Breakfast will be held on March 3, 2023, from 7:00am-9:00am at Double Tree by Hilton, located at 300 King Street, London. If you are interested in attending, please submit your name to the Local no later than February 15,2023. We are sending four people to this event and if there are more than four that register, we will draw names. This is a no lost time event; you must attend on your own time.

Family Education Program

Have you ever thought of taking a family vacation with your Union? The program is held at the Unifor Family Education Center in Port Elgin, Ontario, on the shores of Lake Huron. To find more information on the program, and to obtain an application form, contact a member of the Local Union Executive Board, or go to our education webpage at uniforeducation.org or email Family.education@unifor.org.

Session 1 – Sunday, July 9th through Sunday, July 16th.

Session 2 – Sunday, July 23rd through Sunday, July 30th.

Session 3 – Sunday, August 6th through Sunday, August 13th.

American Sign Language Interpretation available Session 3.

Registration deadline – Friday, April 21, 2023.

Unifor Local 302 Scholarships

Unifor Local 302 will be offering (5) five educational scholarships of $1,000.00 each. Scholarships will be offered to children of Unifor Local 302 Members in good standing and/or Local 302 Member. These students must be enrolled in post-secondary education in a full-time program at a university, college, or technological institute.

Negotiations

Upcoming:  Rockwood Terrace; Caressant Care Bonnie Place; Metcalfe: Vision Retirement.

Tentative:  None

Ratified:  Avon Maitland District School Board, Central and Local; Waterloo Catholic District School Board, Central;  Pinehaven.

In Solidarity,

Kevin Phillips

President

Unifor Local 302