FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hamilton, ON – Workers at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton will be holding a protest on Thursday as the hospital plans to eliminate 62 positions due to a $25 million deficit, as part of a broader wave of cuts across Ontario due to provincial underfunding.
“Most workers at St. Joseph’s Hamilton work in understaffed departments, which negatively impacts our ability to provide safe care,” said Richard Rigby, president of CUPE 786, the union representing about 2,000 workers at the hospital. “We clearly need more staff, not less. If these cuts go through, we’ll only end up intensifying the existing staffing crisis and depriving our patients. The Ford government must fund our hospitals appropriately.”
The provincial government recently told Ontario’s hospitals to plan for a two per cent annual increase in funding for the next three years, precipitating job cuts in multiple places including Toronto, Ottawa, Niagara and North Bay. Hospitals require about six per cent increase in revenues to maintain services.
CUPE is alarmed at the prospects of this turn to harsh austerity, at a critical juncture when staffing levels are insufficient in most hospitals.
The union is drawing attention to official data showing that only 24 per cent of ER patients at St. Joseph’s Hamilton are admitted within the target time of eight hours. The average wait-time is 16 hours.
“How is it acceptable for the provincial government to cut at a hospital where 75 per cent of ER patients can’t be admitted on time?” said Michael Hurley, president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions. “The people of Hamilton can expect longer wait-times, delayed care, missed diagnoses, preventable mistakes, more care provided in hospital hallways and poorer service all around.”
The union leaders’ comments echo the sentiments of St. Joseph’s staff in an ongoing survey conducted by CUPE 786, with recurring statements about unsafe working conditions and risks to patient care:
- “[The job cuts will cause] increase in wait times. Job satisfaction will continue to decline. Patients will suffer the consequences. This continues to make the workplace unsafe and [increases] risks around violence.”
- “The [public should know] that hospitals are no longer safe. Lack of appropriate staffing makes it difficult for staff to provide the care they desperately want to provide.”
- “The majority of staff are hard working, understaffed and stressed to the max [trying to] provide the best care possible.”
- “It’s very stressful wondering if we will have a job tomorrow. Everyone is stressed. Puts our health at risk [as] we are all getting sick from being overworked.”
The union says it will do everything it can to fight these cuts, mobilizing rank and file workers and community members to defend the public hospital.
Who: CUPE 786 members and community allies
Richard Rigby, president of CUPE 786
Sam Forsyth, vice president of CUPE 786
Michael Hurley, president of OCHU-CUPE
Sharon Richer, secretary treasurer, OCHU-CUPE
What: Rally in response to staff cuts at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton
Where: St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, 50 Charlton Ave East, Hamilton
When: 11 a.m. on Thursday, January 22
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For more information, contact:
Zee Noorsumar
CUPE Communications
647-995-9859
