Media Advisory: Striking Regent Park community health care workers to hold news conference and rally: 'Regent Park in Crisis!'

TORONTO, April 3, 2024 /CNW/ - Health care is in crisis in Regent Park. Two weeks ago, Regent Park community health care workers, members of OPSEU/SEFPO Local 5115, were forced out on strike when their employer refused to offer them a fair deal.

These workers are saving lives on the frontlines of the poisoned drug epidemic. On Thursday, April 4, community health care workers will host a news conference and rally to talk about the impact of the health care crisis on vulnerable clients, and to call on RPCHC management to #EndTheStrike. Solidarity guests will include fellow striking workers from the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), members of OPSEU/SEFPO Local 535.  

What: News Conference and Rally for Regent Park community health care workers
When: Thursday, April 4 at 9:15 AM
Where: Regent Park Community Health Centre at 465 Dundas St. E.

Media Availability:

JP Hornick, OPSEU/SEFPO President
Kirsty Millwood, OPSEU/SEFPO Local 5115 President
Kristyn Wong-Tam, NDP MPP for Toronto-Centre

The RPCHC was created more than 50 years ago to meet the health needs of Regent Park residents – mostly racialized, often with precarious status, in a mid to low-income community. These workers provide critical services and programs for people in the Regent Park and surrounding communities including life-saving overdose prevention programs, low barrier support for addictions and homelessness, primary health care and so much more.

But with wages frozen for nearly six years and benefits that have been frozen for 30 years, they can't even afford to live in the city they work in. They are struggling to make ends meet. It's why they are demanding better wages, benefits, and a psychologically safe internal work environment.

Like other community health care workers, the staff at RPCHC are grossly underpaid within the health care sector – it's causing a recruitment and retention crisis. After five months of bargaining, the employer refused to put forth a deal that would prioritize clients and workers.

SOURCE Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/SEFPO)

Simran Ghuman, OPSEU/SEFPO Communications, 647-564-7621, [email protected]