Defend Public Healthcare

The gap between union and non-union wages in Ontario has grown significantly since the start of the recession in 2008, increasing by $1.71 per hour, Statistics Canada data indicates. The hourly union advantage grew by 34 cents per hour each year on average.  For a full time worker, that means the advantage for having union coverage in your workplace is growing by about $663 per year.  Compared to five years ago, that means the union wage advantage for an employee working full time hours has grown by $3,334 per year. In July 2008, the union premium was already considerable at 26.5% ($25.75 average wage per hour for those with union coverage versus $20.35 for those without, a $5.40 an hour difference). Five years later, in July 2013, the union premium had grown to 31.7%.  Union wages averaged $29.56 in 2013 versus $22.45 for workers without union coverage.  That is a $7.11 advantage for workers with union coverage. Temporary Workers: the bigg...

With the release of the 2013-14 first quarter finances report, Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa has announced the start of his own consultations on the economy. The focus (allegedly) is on "jobs and growth" . The formal pre-budget consultations with a committee of the legislature usually start in the late fall or winter. So Sousa's consultations (which have already begun) are getting the jump. If words mean much, the emphasis is quite different than under Dwight Duncan. Sousa's release headlines “The Path to Jobs and Growth”. Duncan's release of last year's first quarter finances sounded more like his imitation of the grim reaper, focusing exclusively on the deficit and the "strong action" he was taking to deal with it (“ First Quarter Finances Show Strong Action Plan Working -- McGuinty Government On Track to Eliminate Deficit ”). Duncan, if you recall, was just launching his attack on public sector collective bargaining. ...

Much was  made by the  media  and others in the  chattering classes of the "record" drop in public sector employment reported in the July Labour Force survey by Statistics Canada last week. So, are public sector workers facing a fall? For Ontario, the figures show a drop of 23,600 in  public sector employment.  That's a drop of  1.7% compared to the previous month, certainly a significant one-month drop (although slightly less than the Canada-wide decline of 2%). But shake a few grains of salt on this monthly data.  Over the last three years, the trend is no growth rather than decline.  Since August 2010, Ontario public sector employment has stayed flat, hovering around 1.34 million, sometimes up a percent or two, sometimes down. The Labour Force figures can move about significantly on a month by month basis, even while the trend is flat.  In July 2011, public sector employment fell 22,800 over the previous month  bu...

The provincial Ombudsman has followed up on his damning report on the privatized, non-ambulance patient transfer industry.   The Mike Harris Progressive Conservative government privatized the patient transfer industry at the turn of the century, moving the work over from Emergency Medical Services (ambulance services).    Two years ago, however, the Ombudsman and the CBC reported major problems in this newly privatized industry, including threats to patient safety and working conditions.   Ontario residents would be better off taking a taxi to a hospital than one of the privately owned vehicles used to transfer hundreds of thousands of non-critical patients each year, provincial Ombudsman Andre Marin   concluded . On July 16, 2013, the Ombudsman followed up on his earlier report,  stating  that “ Two years after promising to regulate the non-emergency medical transfer industry to protect the hundreds of thousands of pat...

Contracting out of medical transcription work is becoming more common in Ontario hospitals. So it is noteworthy that our sister union in BC, the Hospital Employees Union,  reports  today that "the cost of outsourcing medical transcription services in the Lower Mainland has increased by an average of 26 per cent a year over the last five years, according to financial documents produced by health authorities." Regardless, the health authorities "plan to completely contract out in-house medical transcription later this year and fire about 130 medical transcriptionists (MTs), who currently work directly for health authorities." Currently, about 50 per cent of medical transcription volume is contracted out in B.C. HEU has also raised questions about the accuracy and privacy of patients’ medical reports when transcribed by a network of home-based workers across the country.  The Union has asked B.C.’s privacy commissioner to investigate. Photo: Wistechcolleges ...

The Throne Speech from the new Liberal government of Kathleen Wynne sticks fairly close to previous Liberal policy. But it does make a few noteworthy new turns. With the past Liberal government, the claim was they would expand home care. The problem was their expansion was more imaginary than real -- and the claimed expansion was served up as justification for real cuts in hospital and long term care. There is barely any change here: "Along with all parties in the legislature, it (the government) understands the pressing need to expand access to home care in Ontario. And so your government will continue to expand the support available to people in their homes, and to address the needs of men and women across Ontario currently waiting for the home care services they require." So, if we take them at their word, they will "continue" their existing policy. Whoopee.  The good news? At least there is some recognition here that they need to address the ...

The Progressive Conservatives have  -- effectively -- ruled out reaching an agreement with the McGuinty government on a legislative public sector "wage freeze". Peter Shurman Legislative Photo While complaining that the Dalton McGuinty government has not pursued negotiations with the PCs over a legislated wage freeze, PC point-man Peter Shurman  let slip that one of the demands the PCs put to the Liberals was that the government would have to guarantee that whoever succeeds McGuinty as Liberal leader would also impose whatever deal the PCs and the McGuinty government worked out. That's an impossible promise for McGuinty to make. Once someone else is in charge, she (or he) will be in charge -- and there's nothing McGunity can do about that. He's a lame duck leader with zero authority after the (fast approaching) leadership convention January 25-26. The PC demand is unworkable.  The reality is both the PCs and McGuinty have very limited options -- no one...

Negotiations between the government and Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF) have broken off.   OSSTF vice-president,  Harvey Bischof  said  that the provincial government walked away from the bargaining table, leaving the union little choice but to step up their efforts. OSSTF is now planning job action at 20 school boards. OSSTF president Ken Coran added , “It blows me away that they ended discussions when there still were suggestions to be explored — we felt close on a number of issues." Ontario Education Minister Laurel Broten called proposed OSSTF job action “disappointing" and suggested that negotiations at the provincial level are no longer possible.  Broten also said that under Bill 115, the province has “the tools to act and will fully explore these options” as teachers begin their job actions. New Options Meanwhile, Gerard Kennedy has declared he will run to replace McGuinty as the Liberal leader, and has suggested he would take ...

Patients in Britain could see their health care services cut as a result of botched public private partnership (P3) hospitals.     The Public Accounts Committee of the British House of Commons has flagged special concern about the “unaffordable” P3 deals.    Public Accounts Chair Margaret Hall said, "We are particularly concerned that the financial viability of a number of trusts is being undermined by the fact that they are locked into unaffordable PFI (the British phrase for P3s) contracts.” She added that ministers were unable to provide MPs with reassurance that financial problems will not damage the quality of care or access .   “The Department of Health could not explain to us how it will deal with an NHS trust that goes bankrupt. Nor could it provide reassurance that financial problems would not damage the quality of care or equality of access to all citizens, wherever they live.” At least 22 health care trusts operating 60 hospitals are...

The association representing almost 12,000 professionals and supervisors working for the Ontario government claims its recent tentative agreement with the provincial government calls for a 1.83 % permanent reduction in compensation. The association adds that the Catholic teachers deal reduces teacher compensation permanently by 2.5%. For someone whose total compensation was $40,000, a 1.83% cut would mean giving back $732 each year to your employer.  A 2.5% cut would mean giving back $1,000 annually.   The government refers to its proposals as a "wage freeze".

The proposed public sector "compensation restraint"   legislation floated on Wednesday by the Liberals is neatly silent on whether the government will impose contract concessions on 500,000 working people. The government consistently talks of a "compensation freeze" or "compensation restraint".  Obligingly, the media has usually repeated that framing of the issue, as if it were the main bone of contention between the government and the unions. But actions speak louder than words and it it is quite clear from the terms the government is actually imposing on school board workers (through Bill 115) that contract concessions  rather than a contract freeze is what the government has in mind. While I will leave it to the lawyers to have the final word on the proposed legislation, the government's proposed Respecting Collective Bargaining Act 2012  artfully leaves the framework of the contracts to be imposed undefined.  The "mandates" that ...

Attribution: Joshua Sherurci j The Liberal plan to obtain a majority by targeting public sector workers went askew last night, with the Liberals falling to a distant third place in the Kitchener-Waterloo by-election. But they are not deterred in their chosen path. After the defeat, Dalton McGuinty promised to continue pushing his current bill imposing concessions on school board workers through the legislature, but also added  that his government plans to introduce additional legislation targeting the broader public sector this fall.   “We’ve got to find a way to hit the pause button on public-sector pay rather than make cuts to our services,” he said. What this might mean is anyone's guess. Presumably, McGuinty is not yet counting on legislating provincial government 'professional' and 'supervisory' staff -- as they are still in the midst of bargaining.  McGuinty may mean legislation targeting essential service workers -- like hospital workers -- somethi...

In its dispute with teachers, the Ontario Liberal government sometimes tries to claim that one union's offer of a wage freeze is not in fact a wage freeze. The rationale here is that even though no teacher would get a general wage increase for two years, some junior teachers would progress up the wage grid as they accumulate service. This is an unusual take on wages.  And as noted in an earlier post , it is particularly peculiar point for the Liberals to harp on as they actually have agreed to service based pay increases in their deal with the catholic teachers association. But the Liberal argument is also a rather one-sided interpretation of a wage freeze. Pay based on service doesn't just go up -- it also goes down.  Pay based on service gradually increases as junior workers gain experience, but it also falls sharply when senior workers retire or quit and are replaced by a new worker.  The "gradual increase" and the "sharp fall" in pay is especiall...

In the Ontario Budget Bill, the Liberals tried to make some changes to interest arbitration for essential service workers like police officers, firefighters, and hospital workers who are not allowed, by law, to strike so must use interest arbitration to settle collective bargaining disputes.  The amendments would have made it hard if not impossible for respected arbitrators to work on interest arbitrations. The NDP opposed the proposals. So did the Progressive Conservatives (PCs) -- but for different reasons.  They wanted the process turned even more in favour of employers, at the expense of essential employees. As a result, the proposals were defeated and the Budget bill was passed without them.  The governing Liberals said, however, that they would bring changes to interest arbitration back to the legislature in the fall, with Dalton McGuinty saying he wanted to work with the PCs (so he could tack right). That could be a tall order.  So far,only the NDP...