OPSEU bringing patient care to the forefront

For every home visit and/or clinical visit, the private owner of CarePartners, Linda Knight, profits at the expense of the workers who are not fully paid for time spent in each home visit.

Toronto (02 June 2015) — Members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE)  who work at CarePartners have been on strike since April 10. They remain determined to make patient care a priority.

Nurses working in homes for CarePartners are paid per visit rather than by salary

Home nurses are paid on a per visit basis and are under relentless pressure to provide care even quicker in order to maximize profits for the owner.

“We believe nurses should be paid a regular salary for the important work they do,” said OPSEU Local President, Christopher Terreberry, “Ontario tax dollars should be spent on health care, not profits.”

Contracted out health care services are more costly to the province and the public

The Ontario government started contracting out health care services 18 years ago and continues to do so even though it is more costly.

A perfect example of this phenomenon is CarePartners. It holds one of 1,400 lucrative service contracts to provide clinical and home care services to patients. For every home visit and/or clinical visit, the private owner of CarePartners, Linda Knight, profits at the expense of the workers who are not fully paid for time spent in each home visit.

The workers provide nursing services including oncology, dialysis, pediatric, wound and diabetic care to out-patients so they are able to live at home while being cared for.

The conciliator called both sides back to the bargaining table on May 30.

NUPGE

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 360,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE