“We Will Fight to Restore the Quality of Care at Our Hospital:” CUPE 7800 to Hold Rally at Hamilton General at 12 P.M. Tuesday

HAMILTON, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In response to the planned elimination of 413 health care workers by a deficit-plagued Hamilton Health Sciences, CUPE 7800 vows to fight back until the provincial government provides the required funding to restore quality care at the hospital network.

As part of its ongoing campaign, CUPE 7800 is holding a rally at 12 p.m. on Tuesday, October 13 with a town hall meeting planned for Hamilton residents on November 10.

“The conditions of care at HHS are already unacceptable due to ongoing staffing shortages – long-wait times in the emergency department, delays to surgical care, the struggle to tend to patients’ daily needs,” said Jillian Watt, president of CUPE 7800, which represents 4,750 health care workers. “The additional 413 cuts will accelerate the vicious cycle of understaffing, poor patient outcomes and staff burnout due to insufficient staffing.”

The union points to the 24-hour admission wait-times for ER patients as a warning sign about the state of affairs at HHS, arguing that the hospital requires a significant boost in frontline staff to process, assess and treat patients in a timely manner. The provincial government’s target wait-time for the ER is eight hours.

Michael Hurley, president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, says the decision to cut more staff and services at HHS is unacceptable. He says the government must fund the hospital to meet its real operating costs. Last year HHS lost two per cent in real dollar funding and it is projected to lose almost three per cent this year, which is driving the staffing cuts.

“Patients pay a very heavy price for these ongoing funding cuts. Many are cared for on stretchers in hospital hallways due to a shortage of staffed beds. Thousands are waiting longer for surgeries than is medically recommended because of staff shortages. Emergency departments are backlogged and the wait times there and for surgery are unacceptable.” Hurley says. “Every single patient deserves timely treatment and CUPE will continue fighting until we achieve that.”

The rally on October 13 is expected to draw hundreds, including Candace Rennick, secretary-treasurer of CUPE National; Yolanda McClean, president of CUPE Ontario; and Laura Walton, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour.

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