Rally against passage of Bill 195 planned locally

North Bay is among the communities that Ontario health care workers will be holding rallies in the next few months.

22 rallies are planned across the province, starting August 17th, in response to the passage of Bill 195.

The Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/Canadian Union of Public Employees (OCHU/CUPE) says the legislation suspends many fundamental workplace rights.

They say under the act, health care employees can have their shifts changed from days to nights, be reassigned to another job, re-located to another community, laid off without notice, and even have their parental leaves cancelled.

“The PC governments recognized hospital workers as heroines one minute, then stripped away their basic rights at work the next,” says Michael Hurley, President of OCHU/CUPE (pictured above). “The government is using the pandemic to gut the basic rights of this predominantly female workforce,” continued Hurley. “We’re not the only citizens alarmed by the government’s legislation ‘civil rights groups and others are taking action to restore citizens’ rights.”

The union says at least 6,450 Ontario health care workers have contracted COVID-19 at work and approximately 14 have died. They also say the rate of infection and death for health care staff in Ontario is one of the highest in the world.

OCHU/CUPE is currently assessing with others legal challenges to the legislation.

Recently CUPE hospital sector members held a 5-minute political protest at work, following workplace rallies across Ontario.

Future community rallies will be held in Pembroke, Brockville, Cornwall, Kenora, Fort Frances, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, North Bay, Ottawa, Stratford, Guelph, Halton, Mississauga, Cobourg, Peterborough, Oshawa, Lindsay, Windsor, Hamilton, Niagara, and Toronto.

(File photo above by station staff)