Statement From SEIU Healthcare President on Inadequate PSW Wages and Working Conditions

RICHMOND HILL, ON, June 11, 2021 /CNW/ - SEIU Healthcare, the union that represents over 60,000 frontline healthcare workers in Ontario, has issued the following statement from President Sharleen Stewart:

"Today we learned that Doug Ford's government again refused to deliver economic certainty for personal support workers.

Instead of doing the right thing by delivering permanent wage increases and full-time jobs, PSWs are yet again being stringed along a few months at a time. This is no way to treat frontline workers who carried us on their back during the pandemic and no way to run a healthcare system.

Premier Ford is acting like Galen Weston Jr., looking to pull back essential wages the moment it becomes politically convenient.

It's not too much to ask that low-wage workers in the care economy who care for our families, like PSWs, earn a universal minimum wage of at least $25 per hour. That would be a start to deal with our ongoing retention and recruitment crisis."

SEIU Healthcare represents more than 60,000 healthcare and community service workers across Ontario. The union's members work in hospitals, homecare, nursing and retirement homes, and community services throughout the province. www.seiuhealthcare.ca

SOURCE SEIU Healthcare