Day three: PSW strike; SEIU Healthcare calls on Premier Wynne to order Red Cross to bargaining table

RICHMOND HILL, ON, Dec. 13, 2013 /CNW/ - SEIU Healthcare president Sharleen Stewart today called on Premier Kathleen Wynne to take responsibility for the refusal by the province's largest homecare agency to find a solution to the province-wide strike by 4,500 personal support workers.

"Red Cross is not working to settle this strike and they have not contacted us since the tentative agreement was rejected," said Ms. Stewart.

"The leaders of this for-profit company are being paid $300,000 a year with public funds that should be going to improve care for clients. Instead, they are forcing poverty-level wages on women who are now fighting for justice on a freezing picket line."

Union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a tentative agreement that included an 11-cent per hour increase to a $15 per hour salary, with no significant improvement in other issues such as the lack of pay for travel time and the full cost of gas for visiting clients.

"It is time for the Premier to get involved," said Ms. Stewart. "While the politicians are on holiday, the homecare system is being wrecked by a rogue agency. People affected by this strike will see this as one more example of a failure of accountability for the misuse of public funds."

Ms. Stewart is on a tour of picket lines across Ontario where PSWs are standing strong and gaining support from community members.

@J4PSWs
@SEIUHealthCan
www.j4pswsblog.wordpress.com (photos, stories from the picket lines)

About SEIU Healthcare

SEIU Healthcare represents more than 55,000 healthcare and community service workers across Ontario. The union's members work in hospitals, home care, nursing and retirement homes, and community services throughout the province. SEIU Healthcare has a strong track record of improving wages, benefits and working conditions for healthcare workers, supporting the training and development needs of its members, and strengthening standards in the management and delivery of patient and client care. www.seiuhealthcare.ca

SOURCE: SEIU Healthcare

Gilleen Witkowski 
SEIU Healthcare 
416-805-0305 
[email protected]