Health Care

HALIFAX—Unifor is demanding the Nova Scotia government reverse budget cuts recently announced that will reduce staffing at all 100 nursing homes in the province by 3% this year, followed by additional cuts of 3% in each of the next three years.

Nearly 125 Unifor members at Community Living Dryden–Sioux Lookout have ratified new collective agreements that improve care and provide significant improvements to wages, benefits and working conditions.

This month, Unifor heads to the bargaining table on behalf of nearly 2,000 hospital workers across north-eastern and north-western Ontario, with a strong mandate to strengthen wages, improve working conditions and recognize the essential work performed by frontline health care staff.

“This round of bargaining is about making sure the people who keep northern hospitals running are treated with the respect they deserve,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. 

HALIFAX – Unifor is welcoming a landmark decision from the Nova Scotia Supreme Court declaring Bill 148, the Public Services Sustainability (2015) Act, unconstitutional. Bill 148 has been found to violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, causing workers to lose out on wages and benefits that should rightfully be theirs.

Unifor members brought the fight for public health care to Parliament Hill this week, meeting directly with MPs and senators and joining a public rally to call for action as shortages and long waits continue to strain services in communities across the country.

Mr. John Collin
City Manager, City of Thunder Bay

Dear Mr. Collin,

RE: Superior North EMS District Paramedics – Negotiations and Staffing Crisis

I am writing on behalf of Unifor to express our deep concern regarding the state of negotiations for the Superior North EMS District Unit and to urge the City of Thunder Bay to deliver a renewed mandate that will allow a fair and responsible settlement to be reached before the November 26 strike deadline.

HALIFAX—Public pressure from Unifor members who rallied and submitted nearly 1,000 letters to Nova Scotia MLAs were successful in getting the Houston government to deliver a financial mandate so bargaining could begin across long-term care units.

NORFOLK COUNTY, ON –Unifor is calling on the Norfolk General Hospital (NGH) Board of Directors to intervene in stalled contract negotiations and direct the employer to return to the table with a fair and reasonable mandate consistent with arbitration outcomes across Ontario’s hospital sector.