INTEREST ARBITRATION AWARD SAINT ELIZABETH HILLCREST AND CUPE LOCAL 5439 COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT

Dear Members,

Please see below attached interest arbitration award between Saint Elizabeth Health Care at The Hillcrest Reactivation Centre and Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 5439. We have fought long and hard for this award which demonstrates a fair decision on what we deserve as hospital workers.

This is only the first step the employer needs to take in respecting us, protecting us and paying us appropriately. Now that we have reached our first collective agreement, it is now time for us to continue to prepare and organize for the future.

CUPE L5439 Executive

Saint Elizabeth and CUPE Award

Torontonians Reject the Exploitation of PSWs and Nurses at UHN-Hillcrest Toronto: CUPE

Torontonians Reject the Exploitation of PSWs and Nurses at UHN-Hillcrest Toronto: CUPE

March 04, 2021 11:05 AM Eastern Standard Time

TORONTO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–A poll of 800 Torontonians conducted at the end of February found strong disapproval for contracted-out patient care at University Health Network’s (UHN) Hillcrest Reactivation Centre, where care staff are paid poorly and believe that the hospital is using them as “exploited” labour.

UHN gets provincial funding to provide transitional care to hospital patients. The hospital reopened the shuttered Hillcrest hospital site at Davenport and Bathurst to do that. But instead of operating the facility, UHN contracted out the patient care to a private home care company. When asked how they felt about this privatization of patient care, 76% of those polled in Toronto said they disapprove.

Oracle conducted the poll on behalf of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) which represents about 100 personal support workers, nurses and other health care staff at UHN-Hillcrest, a 75-bed facility. In February PSWs spoke out about understaffing at Hillcrest and their low wages and challenging working conditions. In releasing the polling data, one of the PSWs reiterated how exploited she and her co-workers feel by the University Health Network.

Staff turnover rate is more than 40 per cent (yearly) at Hillcrest, where UHN’s contractor, SE Health pays the staff much less than staff are paid at other UHN Toronto hospitals. The majority of these UHN-Hillcrest health care workers are racialized women.

Currently many of the contracted out PSW staff at Hillcrest are paid $16.50/hr. When asked whether they considered $16.50/hr an adequate living wage for someone living and working in Toronto, 81% said it is “not adequate.” Further, 75% think UHN should employ Hillcrest staff directly with 86% of respondents saying that Hillcrest staff should be paid the same wages as staff at other UHN hospitals – like Toronto General and the Western.

73% of respondents said they do not think that the three paid sick days a year full-time staff at Hillcrest receive is adequate for a health care worker.

“These polling results should alarm the University Health Network, which is the largest hospital corporation in North America. People in Toronto do not support the contracting-out of patient care or paying PSWs, nurses and other health care staff low wages for back-breaking work . They do not think that $16.50 an hour is a living wage in Toronto. They do believe that UHN should be employing these hospital workers directly with hospital working conditions, pay and sick days. We strongly encourage UHN to do the right thing and welcome these staff into its hospital workforce,” said Michael Hurley, president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions. “COVID-19 showed the result of poor employment practices in long-term care homes. The conditions at Hillcrest are much worse.”

Another key finding is that if they or a family member are facing a lengthy stay in hospital, 78% of respondents say they would want to be cared for in a full-service public hospital.

The telephone poll (http://bit.ly/CUPE-2021-03-04-slides) was conducted between February 22 and February 27. The margin of error for the telephone poll for the 800 sample is ± 3.5%, times.

lf/cope491

 

PSWs at UHN-Hillcrest say hospital exploits them with dismal pay, backbreaking work and it must stop: OCHU/CUPE

On Wednesday February 10, 2021, three PSWs described their grueling workloads, constant understaffing, and insufficient patient care at the Hillcrest Rehabilitation Centre where UHN contracts-out patient care and staffing to SE Health – a home care agency. Hillcrest has operated as a 75-bed convalescent, rehabilitation hospital for the University Health Network for the last three years. In the beginning average length of stay at Hillcrest was intended to be 60 days. But for the last year patients are admitted to Hillcrest for long periods – some up to a year –  they await transfer to other hospitals, their homes, or more often to nursing homes and long-term care.

For more information and to read the full media release, please click the link

below.

Media Release – OCHU / CUPE

 

Toronto PSWs Risk Speaking out About Low Patient Care and Staffing, Exploitation at University Health Network’s (UHN) Hillcrest Hospital: CUPE

TORONTO — Although Ontario is struggling with resident care quality, pandemic infection control and keeping residents alive in private long-term care and retirement homes the PC government is furtively moving hospital patients – some of them still acutely ill – to makeshift sites. These include private retirement homes, hotels, and shuttered hospitals like Toronto’s University Health Network (UHN) – Hillcrest site, where patient care and staffing levels are subpar.

After dealing with severe understaffing and grueling workloads during the COVID-19 crisis in the last year, several UHN – Hillcrest personal support workers (PSWs) are bravely speaking out about patient care, low staffing levels, high workloads, and the workplace exploitation (including few paid sick days) they’ve endured under this UHN ‘contracted-out’ hospital care choice. The UHN – Hillcrest Reactivation Centre is a 75-bed hospital site with about 100 contracted out front-line staff.

To Read the Full Article Click Here

Bargaining Update – Local 5439

Bargaining a first contract is often a slow, challenging process CUPE 5439 negotiations began in fall 2019 and continued throughout 2020. Due to a bargaining impasse, we are now heading into
arbitration, starting with the first hearing on March 5, 2021. Bargaining a first contract is challenging. Things often move slowly. But it’s worth the time to negotiate a strong first agreement that solidifies the rights of workers, through fair compensation and decent working conditions. As the largest health care union in Ontario, CUPE has a wealth of experience in negotiating strong contracts that raise standards for workers. We represent more than 45,000 members in the hospital sector alone. These CUPE members include you, the120 members of CUPE 5439 at the  University Health Network (UHN)’s Hillcrest Activation Centre, and nearly 4,000 staff at other UHN hospital sites.

For more information on the Bargaining Process, please open the link below.

Bargaining Update November 2020

Welcome to the Canadian Union of Public Employees

Dear CUPE 5439 members,

Congratulations! As a new member of CUPE Local 5439 at the UHN Hillcrest Reactivation Centre, you are now one of the 700,000 workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees across Canada, and one of the 280,000 members of CUPE Ontario.

CUPE advocates for workers who deliver the public services people depend on. Our members work in hospitals, schools, municipalities, and many other public spaces. We help our members provide the highest level of service by ensuring they are safe and healthy at work, and that they get fair pay and benefits for the services they provide. We also advocate for better public services, like improvements to public health care and to the Canada Pension Plan, that would improve our communities and the lives of all Canadians.

As a full-service union, our elected leaders also work with the employer to resolve problems in the workplace. All CUPE members work under the protection of a contract called a Collective Agreement. Your local bargains the terms of the agreement on your behalf. As a member of CUPE 5439, you also have a direct route to influencing your own working conditions – and your community.

To participate more fully in the union, we encourage you to attend our bi-monthly Membership Meetings. Membership Meetings provide a platform to make important decisions for the local. During meetings, we exchange information, debate issues and democratically decide the best course of action. In sharing our challenges, coming up with solutions and working together as one strong united voice, we use our collective strength to ensure better working conditions.

Union Dues

CUPE maintains a centrally located office, hires staff to work on your behalf, pay legal fees, particularly for representing members through the grievance and arbitration process, print newsletters and mail information to our members. We also set aside funds to provide you with strike pay, in the event of a strike or lockout. We contribute financially to CUPE National, CUPE Ontario, the Labour Council of Toronto and York Region and other labour organizations that work on your behalf.

Each union member pays dues to help cover these expenses, which comprise 1.5% of your pay. You never have to write us a cheque – your dues come directly off your pay in the same way as CPP and EI premiums are collected. The return you get for paying union dues is excellent. The average union wage in Canada is $5 an hour higher than the non-union wage and union dues are tax deductible.

There are also a variety of web resources you can access for more information on what it means to be a part of a union:

Ontario Council of Hospital Unions: ochu.on.ca
CUPE Ontario: cupe.on.ca
CUPE National: cupe.ca