The gap between union and non-union wages in Ontario has grown significantly since the start of the recession in 2008, increasing by $1.71 per hour, Statistics Canada data indicates. The hourly union advantage grew by 34 cents per hour each year on average. For a full time worker, that means the advantage
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Defending Public Healthcare: With 34,000 jobs destroyed, Ontario focuses on Jobs and Growth
With the release of the 2013-14 first quarter finances report, Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa has announced the start of his own consultations on the economy. The focus (allegedly) is on “jobs and growth” . The formal pre-budget consultations with a committee of the legislature usually start in the late
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: A record drop in public sector jobs?
Much was made by the media and others in the chattering classes of the “record” drop in public sector employment reported in the July Labour Force survey by Statistics Canada last week. So, are public sector workers facing a fall? For Ontario, the figures show a drop of 23,600 in public sector employment.
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Patent transfer recommendations remains secret
The provincial Ombudsman has followed up on his damning report on the privatized, non-ambulance patient transfer industry. The Mike Harris Progressive Conservative government privatized the patient transfer industry at the turn of the century, moving the work over from Emergency Medical Services (ambulance services). Two years ago, however,
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Contracting out costs soar 26% per year
Contracting out of medical transcription work is becoming more common in Ontario hospitals. So it is noteworthy that our sister union in BC, the Hospital Employees Union, reports today that “the cost of outsourcing medical transcription services in the Lower Mainland has increased by an average of 26 per cent a year
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes from the Liberals on bargaining and health
The Throne Speech from the new Liberal government of Kathleen Wynne sticks fairly close to previous Liberal policy. But it does make a few noteworthy new turns. With the past Liberal government, the claim was they would expand home care. The problem was their expansion was more imaginary than real
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: McGuinty government demands multiple concessions
As expected, the McGuinty government has made a long series of concession demands at the OPSEU “OPS” negotiations, where OPSEU is bargaining on behalf of 36,000 provincial civil servants. Here is what OPSEU saw from the government on the first day:
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Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: PCs rule out legislative wage freeze deal with McGuinty
The Progressive Conservatives have — effectively — all but ruled out reaching an agreement with the McGuinty government on a legislative public sector “wage freeze”.While complaining that the McGuinty government has not pursued negotiations wit…
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: OSSTF bargaining stops as OPSEU talks start
Negotiations between the government and OSSTF (the union representing public secondary school teachers) have ended. Harvey Bischof, vice president for the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, told the Ottawa Citizen that t…
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Home and community care funding less than promised
The announcements of new “home and community care” funding (which started last week) continue, this time for the Ottawa area.
Home care activists
First the good news. The $7.15 million announced for the Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) …
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: P3 hospital debts threaten quality of health care
Patients in Britain could see their health care services cut as a result of botched public private partnership (P3) hospitals. The Public Accounts Committee of the British House of Commons has flagged special concern about the “unaffordable” P3 deals. Public Accounts Chair Margaret Hall said, “We are particularly concerned
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Liberals conceal ugly concessions (as other wages rise)
The proposed public sector “compensation restraint” legislation floated on Wednesday by the Liberals is neatly silent on whether the government will impose contract concessions on 500,000 working people. The government consistently talks of a “compensation freeze” or “compensation restraint”. Obligingly, the (corporate-owned) media has usually repeated that framing of the
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: McGuinty: more legislation targeting public sector coming
The Liberal plan to obtain a majority by targeting public sector workers went askew last night, with the Liberals falling to a distant third place in the Kitchener-Waterloo by-election. But they are not deterred in their chosen path. After the defeat, Dalton McGuinty promised to continue pushing his current bill
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: When a wage freeze is not a wage freeze
In its dispute with teachers, the Ontario Liberal government sometimes tries to claim that one union’s offer of a wage freeze is not in fact a wage freeze. The rationale here is that even though no teacher would get a general wage increase for two years, some junior teachers would
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