MEDIA ADVISORY: On Wednesday, St. Joseph’s at Fleming front-line staff and administration join forces to protest provincial wage cap that disadvantages not-for-profit long-term care

Event Information

Begins: 15 Sep 2021 @ 11:00 AM
Location: Peterborough, ON

PETERBOROUGH, ON –/COMMUNITYWIRE/– Front-line long-term care staff at Peterborough’s St. Joseph’s at Fleming and the home’s administrators are joining forces to rally on Wednesday, September 15 to call out the provincial government’s wage cap policy that disadvantages the ability of not-for-profit care homes to attract and retain frontline staff.

Not-for-profit homes like St. Joseph’s at Fleming are captured under the PC government’s Bill 124 that caps wages at 1%, while it exempts for-profit long-term care providers and municipal nursing homes that can offer registered nurses, personal support workers, dietary and cleaning staff more competitive wages. Not-for-profit homes like St. Joseph’s at Fleming are therefore losing skilled workers who have worked tirelessly through the pandemic and aren’t able to attract new staff.

The dilemma created by the provincial wage cap policy that hampers not-for-profit homes’ ability to be competitive in the health sector’s labour market further exacerbates the staff retention and attraction challenges already plaguing the health sector following 19 months of pandemic response.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents staff at St. Joseph’s at Fleming, has consistently advocated for higher quality resident care through higher and consistent staffing levels. According to CUPE, the opportunity to work collaboratively with not-for-profit homes’ management is in the best interest of residents, their families, and front-line staff.

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For more information, please contact:

Aline Patcheva, CUPE Communications, 416-885-7382, apatcheva@cupe.ca