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

TORONTO, Oct. 15, 2015 /CNW/ - Employees of the Hospital for Sick Children are taking their fight for the same disability and pension benefits workers enjoy at almost every other hospital in the province.

"The Hospital for Sick Children is a world leader in patient care and research, but it lags far behind its peers in how it treats its own sick and retired employees, says Julian Harney, vice-president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE for the GTA.

" Staff live in poverty if they suffer a long-term illness under the Hospital for Sick Children's long-term disability plan, because it is so inferior. Sick Kids has refused to join the Hospitals of Ontario Disability Plan, which almost every other hospital in Ontario participates in and the hospital is the only one in Ontario that refuses to join the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan" says Leonora Foster, president of CUPE Local 2816, which represents employees at the hospital.

Hospital staff on their 30-minute lunch break will rally October 15, outside the hospital at 555 University Ave. at noon.

"Parity with other Ontario hospital staff on these important workplace protections is long-overdue and the intransigence of this hospital shames them," says Julian Harney.

SOURCE Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (CUPE)

please contact: Leonora Foster, President, CUPE Local 2816: 905-783-0377; Julian Harney, Vice-president, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE (OCHU): 647-296-9901; Stella Yeadon, CUPE Communications: 416-559-9300