• Place an order, or for other inquiries:
  • 416-923-3567 ext. 3325
  • content@newsmediacanada.ca
CommunityWireCommunityWireCommunityWireCommunityWire
  • Home
  • Why CommunityWire
  • How It Works
  • Services & Rates
✕

Windsor long-term care home cuts PSW pay without warning

3 November 2022
Categories
  • English
  • Finance / Business
  • Government / Public Policy
  • Health / Safety
  • Media Release
Tags
  • Canadian Union of Public Employees
https://cupe.ca/

WINDSOR, ON –/COMMUNITYWIRE/– A provincial wage enhancement for personal support workers (PSWs) that was supposed to have been made permanent disappeared from paycheques without warning to workers at Regency Park Nursing Home, a private, for-profit long-term care facility in Windsor, Ontario.

“We were shocked, to say the least. We thought it must have been an error, so we raised it with management, who just told us it wasn’t being included anymore but offered no explanation,” said Donna Debro, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 3593, which represents workers at the home. “PSWs are the lowest-paid care staff in all of healthcare, so that’s a big financial blow for them at a time when the cost of living is skyrocketing.”

CUPE, which represents workers at Regency Park has filed grievances, but management has denied that it has done anything wrong. There has also been no information forthcoming from the head office of Universal Care, which is responsible for managing the facility.

“To do this in the middle of a province-wide staffing crisis is inexcusable. These people have worked hard throughout the pandemic and are facing high levels of burnout. They’re already working short staffed on a regular basis. To do this at all is going to make matters much worse. To do it with such callous disregard is just going to drive PSWs away at a time when every long-term care home in the province is struggling to attract qualified staff,” said Debra Maxfield, chair of CUPE’s Health Care Workers’ Coordinating Committee.

The wage enhancement for PSWs began during the pandemic and was subsequently made permanent by the provincial government.

Personal support workers have been scrambling to cancel vacations, change wedding plans and make cuts to grocery bills for their families as a result of this large and unexpected cut to their paycheques.

“As far as we are aware, no other long-term care facility in Ontario has stopped paying the wage enhancement. To the best of our knowledge, this situation with Universal Health is unique in long-term care,” said Maxfield. “Universal Health has to fix this right away. If they don’t, the province needs to step in and make sure the money is going to the workers who earned it.”

CUPE is Ontario’s largest healthcare union and represents workers in more than 240 long-term care and retirement homes across the province.

-30-

For more information, please contact:

Craig Saunders
CUPE Communications
csaunders@cupe.ca
416-576-7316

Share
ENGLISH
FRANÇAIS

Submit Your News

EVENTS CALENDAR

  • MEDIA ADVISORY: Canadian Hearing Services and WSIB workers rally in Windsor for fair bargaining with support from Marit Stiles
    2 July 2025
  • MEDIA ADVISORY: OCEU President Harry Goslin to Join Striking Hamilton Water Workers at City Hall
    2 July 2025
  • MEDIA ADVISORY: OCEU President Harry Goslin to Join WSIB Strike Picket Line in Guelph
    26 June 2025

RECENT RELEASES

  • https://ochu.on.ca/
    Privatizing surgeries will drive up costs, skew access to the wealthy, lengthen wait lists and worsen the hospital staffing crisis: CUPE
    3 July 2025
  • CUPE education workers raise serious concerns about staffing cuts in PVNC Catholic Schools
    2 July 2025
  • https://www.capterra.ca/
    Selon une étude de Capterra, le manque de compétences en IA bloque les entreprises canadiennes dans la résolution des problématiques de rétention du personnel
    27 June 2025
  • Bambini Breaks Ground on Reggio-Inspired Childcare Centre in SW Calgary
    27 June 2025
  • Plug’n Drive is Bringing Electric Test Drives to Regina Saskatchewan and Surrounding Communities
    27 June 2025

CATEGORIES

Be seen where the audience is looking
News Media Canada
2-610 Ford Dr., #218
Oakville, Ontario L6J 7W4

416-923-3567 or toll-free 1-877-305-2262
content@newsmediacanada.ca

© Copyright 2024 News Media Canada. All rights reserved.