Guelph-area hospital workers rally as part of province-wide demonstration

Health care workers at Guelph General Hospital marched over the lunch hour on Wednesday as part of a province-wide rally calling for fairness during on-going contract negotiations with the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA).

Several members of CUPE Local 57 marched up and down the sidewalk in front of the hospital on Delhi Street, holding signs and flags, while passing cars honked their horns in a show of support.

The three unions have been operating as a bargaining coalition on behalf of 75,000 health care workers at 160 public hospitals in Ontario, who have been without a contract since March 2017.

Pellegrini added workers are looking for a contract with no concessions, a moderate wage increase and stronger workplace violence protection.

In a statement to Global News last week, the Ontario Hospital Association said it values the hard work and dedication of its employees and expressed disappointment that negotiations with the unions reached an “impasse” last year.

“Staff are overworked, they are stressed out, they’re dealing with more people with a tendency towards violence.”

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Pellegrini said efforts were made to improve safety for workers at the hospital, but that was only after a number of incidents involving violent patients.

Local rallies were also held in Kitchener, along with Fergus, where patient violence continues, according to Allison Lewis, chair of Unifor 1106 at Groves Memorial Hospital.

“We had tried to negotiate some stronger language against violence against workers,” she said. “In the health care system, it seems to be like an accepted norm that we’re supposed to take the abuse, whether it be physical or verbal. It happens on a daily basis.”

Lewis added in the last month she has been pushed and punched on separate occasions while on the job.

“We all intend to come to work and do our best, and asking for a day without violence, that should be our right, that should be something that is the norm.”

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The rallies across the province coincide with the negotiations that are expected to resume this weekend between the OHA and the bargaining alliance.