Labour Council Backs Hospital Workers With Threat of Fundraising Boycott
Kingston - The Kingston and District Labour Council has thrown its support behind hospital workers seeking a negotiated settlement through central bargaining with the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA).
CUPE's Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) and the Service Employees International Union, representing 50,000 hospital workers across the province, have been waging a province-wide campaign to achieve a negotiated settlement on behalf of workers. The workers have been without a contract since 1995 and in most cases, have not had a wage increase since 1992. Now the OHA wants to contract out their jobs.
The OHA broke off talks with the unions on October 23rd, after only one day of negotiations, stating they were unwilling to negotiate unless the unions were prepared to make concessions on job protection to allow hospitals to contract out their services.
"What we have here is a blueprint for the privatization of hospital services," says Ken Brown, Canadian Vice-President of Service Employees International Union. "We know the last thing these workers want is a strike, we want a negotiated settlement that provides a modest wage increase and status quo with respect to our job security language."
"Our members may well be the last line of defense against a privatized, for profit hospital system," says Michael Hurley, president of CUPE's Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU). "The job protection in our contracts is the only thing preventing hospitals from selling-off our jobs and the important services we provide".
The Kingston and District Labour Council joined other Labour Councils across the province to urge hospital CEO's to put pressure on the OHA to abandon it's sell-off plans" The threat to local fundraising efforts is very real," warned Labour Council president Charlie Stock. "It would definitely hurt local hospital finances and that's why we are calling on local hospital to call off the OHA pit-bulls."
FOR IMEDIATE RELEASE: NOVEMBER 30, 1998
Charlie Stock 549-6258 Louis Rodrigues 389-7161 Kingston and District CUPE Local 1974 Labour Council Kingston General Hospital