FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Who: CUPE 1943 workers serving ‘cruelty-free coffee’
Lisa Barker, president of CUPE 1943, representing PRHC workers
Sharon Richer, secretary-treasurer of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions
(OCHU-CUPE)
Kevin Cook, first vice president, OCHU-CUPE
What: Free coffee and leafletting by CUPE 1943 workers
When: 9:30 to 12pm on Wednesday, May 6
Where: Parking lot, Peterborough Regional Health Centre, 1 Hospital Drive, Peterborough (click here for precise location)
Peterborough, ON – Workplace stress has been mounting in recent times for Pam Simpson*, who works at the Tim Hortons franchise at Peterborough Regional Health Centre. The work is chaotic and demanding – driven by poor management, perpetual understaffing, and lax health and safety standards.
“About 70 per cent of the time, I can’t take my lunch break on time because we are so short-staffed,” she says. “I often end up working an additional 45 minutes to an hour. And yet, I’ve been yelled at for requesting a lunch break – in front of customers!”
Simpson does her best to serve her customers and often enjoys pleasant interactions with them. But workplace pressures are overwhelming – causing her to break down in tears on occasion when the onslaught of long line-ups, frustrated customers, and unsympathetic managers takes it toll.
“We are chronically understaffed at almost every time of the day with our hospital staff and visitors waiting at times for more than 30 minutes just to get a bagel,” says Monica Parker*, a co-worker.
The unrelenting pace of work has contributed to injuries as workers scramble to perform their duties, only for managers to minimize their concerns (“it doesn’t look too bad” one worker was told after she tore off a chunk of skin off her scalp).
Many workers have decided the pain is not worth it for minimum wage (or a fraction more – the highest paid workers get $18.09). Ergo, staff turnover is high, and experienced workers are under pressure to pick up the slack.
The toxic nature of the workplace is rooted in sexism, racism, and classism – most workers are women, many racialized, and some are international students with precarious immigration status. In other words, they are ripe for exploitation.
The staff are currently in bargaining with Compass Group, the for-profit corporation that is contracted by PRHC to provide food services in the cafeteria.
Their union, CUPE 1943, wants significant improvements to bring them up to the same standards as the hospital workers it represents inside the facility. CUPE makes the case that the jobs at Tim Hortons are no different than those of food service workers at the hospital – in fact they used to have the same collective agreement before the cafeteria jobs were contracted out more than a decade ago.
“The workers here deserve fair compensation,” says Lisa Barker, the president of CUPE 1943. “But they also deserve respect and decent working conditions, free from harassment and discrimination. It’s incumbent on Compass and the hospital to end these hyper-exploitative practices and treat them fairly.”
On Wednesday, the union is serving “cruelty-free” coffee at the hospital parking lot and leafletting to bring awareness about the plight of the cafeteria and Tim Hortons staff.
According to the union, it is prepared to escalate its campaign and do whatever it takes to ensure justice for these workers. The ball is now in Compass’s court – the employer simply needs to accept the union’s proposal and take concrete steps to address health and safety issues, and other related concerns.
*Note: Names have been changed to protect workers’ identities
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For more information, contact:
Zee Noorsumar, CUPE Communications
647-995-9859
