Unions for front-line workers, along with New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath, gathered Thursday to press the Progressive Conservative government into concessions before it announced reopening measures later that morning.
Representatives from the Ontario Federation of Labour, Ontario Nurses’ Association, Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, and the Canadian Union of Public Employees were on hand to present demands from more than 30 unions in the province.
They reiterated longstanding asks of the Ford government, including 10 employer-paid sick days; a repeal of Bill 124, which caps public sector wage increases at 1 per cent per year, and Bill 195, the emergency measures act that overrides collective bargaining agreements; requiring health-care and educational institutions to increase airborne safety measures; and holding a summit with health stakeholders.
"Today, Ontario is in a full-blown public health care crisis," Horwath said. "Health-care workers burnt out and exhausted, getting sick at an alarming rate, and leaving the field in droves under a government that has shown they’re no friend to working people."
Ontario hospitals are struggling under the weight of the Omicron COVID-19 wave. Though experts say hospitalizations should level off and decline in the coming weeks, workers, advocates and unions have stressed that employees are burnt out and barely coping with demand. Peel Memorial has shut down its urgent care centre due to a lack of workers.
The province reported 4,061 COVID patients in hospitals, including 594 in intensive care on Thursday. There are 970 outbreaks in hospitals, long-term care homes and retirement homes.
Natalie Mehra of the Ontario Health Coalition, who was not at the presser, said Ontario is "in a far worse place in health care than we were last year at this time," in a release.
"Yet the messaging from the Ford government appears to be driven by self-serving politics. This pandemic will end. But right now, we are in a health system catastrophe, and this government has done virtually nothing to help get care to patients in need," she said.
CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn said Ontario was last among provinces in per-capita health-care funding before the pandemic, which has exacerbated longstanding issues.
He also took issue with the government's use of the word "absenteeism" when discussing health-care and education worker shortages.
"Workers aren't absent. They're sick," he said. "It's the Ford Conservatives who are absent."
Green Leader Mike Schreiner also called on Premier Doug Ford again to repeal Bill 124.
"We are two years into the pandemic and his Bill 124 is attacking nurses when we need them the most right now," he said in a statement. "His words don't match up to his actions."
Karen Brown, the president of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, called it "shameful" that the government has stopped reporting COVID-19 cases and outbreaks in schools.
"There is no plan to address the anticipated increase in staff absences due to COVID 19 related illness or isolation," she said.
She also called on the government to mandate masks for all students, install more HEPA filters and reduce class sizes.
Ontario Federation of Labour President Patty Coates plugged an upcoming phone zap on Saturday. Workers plan to "flood" MPP offices with voicemails to demand action, according to the event <a href="https://ofl.ca/event/zap-ontario-in-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">page</a>.

Front-line unions reiterate safety demands as Ontario set to reopen

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