Media Advisory - Sick Kids hospital staff to rally today for the same disability benefits as other Ontario hospital staff

TORONTO, Dec. 16, 2014 /CNW/ - The Hospital for Sick Children is a world leader in patient care and research, but it lags behind its peers in terms of how it treats its own sick employees, says Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE.

Staff can drop into poverty if they suffer a long-term illness under the Hospital for Sick Children's long-term disability scheme, because it does not adequately protect employees. This is not the case for employees at other hospitals.

CUPE is in bargaining with the hospital and has asked it to join the Hospitals of Ontario Disability Plan, which the hospital has refused to do.

Today employees of the Hospital for Sick Children are taking their fight for the same disability benefits that staff have at almost every other hospital in the province, public.

Hospital staff on their 30-minute lunch break will rally today (Tuesday, December 16) outside the hospital at 555 University Ave. from11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

"Parity with other hospital staff on this important workplace protection is long-overdue," says Hurley.

SOURCE: Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (CUPE)

Michael Hurley, President, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE (OCHU), 416-884-0770; Stella Yeadon, CUPE Communications, 416-559-9300