Media Advisory - ParaMed workers to picket Ottawa office Wednesday Aug. 27

OTTAWA, Aug. 26, 2014 /CNW/ - Professional and support staff from ParaMed Home Health Care will be picketing outside the company's Ottawa office Wednesday in anticipation of a post-Labour Day strike.

ParaMed's Renfrew County employees are upset at the company's lack of willingness to seek a deal before the September 2nd strike deadline. ParaMed has told the workers it is only willing to bargain three days into a potential strike.

The 140 workers deliver home care and home support to clients throughout Renfrew County on behalf of the Champlain Community Care Access Centre.

While the company has told the workers it has asked the CCAC to cease referring new clients in advance of the strike, new clients are still being sent to ParaMed's Renfrew County operations.

The employer is seeking to extend the wage freeze for ParaMed workers to five years in addition to other take-aways from their collective agreement.

"ParaMed is rowing in the opposite direction from the Ontario government which is seeking to improve working conditions for the home care workforce," says Warren (Smokey) Thomas, President of the 130,000-member Ontario Public Service Employees Union. "Poor wages and working conditions will only create further turnover in a sector the Minister of Health is counting on to free up hospital beds."

OPSEU's workers at ParaMed say the company has been taunting them for months to hit the picket line.

ParaMed is a division of Extendicare, one of the largest private providers of long term care in North America.

When: Wednesday, August 27 / 12:00 Noon

Where: 400-1145 Hunt Club Rd, Ottawa, Ontario K1V 0Y3

SOURCE: Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU)

Nelson Ross Laguna, 1-800-268-7376 ext 5445, 613-324-4174