Defend Public Healthcare

Leftwords reported last week that some Ontario doctors got a big raise through the McGuinty government's 'wait times' strategy (a funding system that CUPE has long opposed as it opens the door to privatization and contracting out work from hospitals). This brings to mind that ANOTHER McGuinty government initiative that has ALSO driven up doctor incomes. The government has been pushing "Family Health Teams" (FHTs) since 2004. While doctors run the FHTs, the FHTs employ a range of health care employees and take on a broad range of health care services, some well beyond family doctor services, including services until now done in hospitals.     As usual, this government is trying to take more work out of our hospitals. With last month's announcement of another 30 new Family Health Teams the total number of FHTs is now 200.  When these new FHTs become operational, 3,000,000 people will receive health services through them (an average of 15,000 patients p...

The Toronto Star reports : "Thousands of Ontario nurses who work at ...non-unionized hospitals complain they're getting the cold shoulder from Premier Dalton McGuinty's public sector pay freeze." While the non-union RNs are in the midst of a government imposed two year wage freeze, unionized RNs got pay increases April 1, as per their collective agreement.   “I don’t know why they’re doing this to us,” non-union RN Julia Fisher said. “The government has created a two-tier pay schedule. We’re being penalized.” Even bosses at non-union hospitals are not pleased with the situation. They fear it will be harder to recruit and retain no-union staff.  “We are concerned the government’s freeze is creating significant inequity between union and non-unionized staff doing the same work,” said Janet Davidson, president and chief executive of Trillium in Mississauga. Davidson's reference to "staff" is appropriate as a similar problem applies to non-unionized R...

As reported a few days ago, the Ontario government (quietly and) retroactively, revised the 2009-10 budget deficit downwards another $2 billion when it released the Public Accounts.  And as reported way back on July 12 (before any public mention of the current consultations with unions on a compensation freeze), Finance Minister Dwight Duncan had predicted that the 2009-10 deficit would decrease. But he also predicted  that the 2010-11 deficit estimate would be revised downwards too. “If you're starting off with a smaller deficit for the year ended, presumably if you follow the plan we've laid out, then the numbers will improve down the line — assuming no cataclysmic or unanticipated event”. While the revision for the 2009-10 deficit has now happened, the revision for the 2010-11 deficit has not.  Or at least not yet.  The deficit is now forecast to be higher this year (when the economy is growing) than it was last year (when the economy ...

Of the provincial deficit and Dwight Duncan, the provincial Finance Minister, the Toronto Star suggests that the “spectre of looming shortfalls … helps bolster Duncan’s case for a planned wage freeze for more than 1 million public servants, including nurses, teachers and bureaucrats.” Well, that argument is weakening. The Public Accounts for the province have now come out for 2009-10 and the deficit is a lot smaller than Finance Minister Dwight Duncan and the Liberal government forecast. In fact, another $2 billion was lopped off the provincial deficit. The Liberal government also reduced its deficit estimated by $3.4 billion the day before the March provincial budget. That makes the 2009-10 deficit $5.4 billion less than the Liberals had estimated it to be half way through the year. (When I see discrepancies this size, it does make me wonder if I've put too much faith in Finance Ministry forecasts.) In any case, the government will not get one-tenth of...

Greece is likely the leading test case for public sector austerity, a policy which is beginning to sweep into other countries, and even our own Ontario, with its bed cuts and public sector wage freeze. So it's interesting to see that even the not so labour-friendly folk at the Wall Street Journal are beginning to express some misgivings.  Here's the lead from their recent story on Greece's growing economic woes: Greece's deepening recession is driving joblessness steadily higher, feeding discontent with the government's austerity program and dragging on the broader economy.   Greece's gross domestic product contracted by 3.5% in the second quarter from a year earlier, hitting retailers hard and sending unemployment rates to above 12% of the work force, according to data released last week.  Forecasts vary on how bad unemployment could get. The International Monetary Fund predicts the jobless rate will reach 14.8% by 2012. But some labor experts fear that b...

The first two weeks of the Liberal government's consultations with unions on a 'compensation freeze' are up.  University faculty unions were one of the groups involved in the first two weeks of consultations. So here's the resolution on those consultations from the university faculty unions, passed on to the government Wednesday evening: The Ontario faculty associations and other groups representing academic staff have received reports from their delegation about the issues discussed the week of August 9, 2010 with COU (Council of Ontario Universities) and government officials. We are confident that these issues can better be addressed at the local level by free collective bargaining. This would acknowledge the diversity of Ontario’s universities and their respective financial situations. We also do not accept the government’s premise that compensation is the cause of the current financial situation, nor its determination, made even before commencing its consultati...

Buried in today's Statistics Canada report on inflation in July is the fact that inflation in Ontario has increased from 1.6% to 2.9%.   The new "Harmonized Sales Tax" (HST) came into effect on July 1 in Ontario.  As the HST transfers costs to consumers,  the increase in the cost of living in Ontario is now the highest in the land.  This means you have to earn 2.9% more dollars to maintain your standard of living as of a year ago.  And if your wages were frozen (as the government would like), your standard of living would go down by an equivalent amount.  For those of you lucky enough to live in Toronto or Ottawa, the increase is 3.1% and 3.0% respectively. (The Statistics Canada report is here and a quick Canada-wide summary from the Globe and Mail is  here  ). It's worth remembering that the same McGuinty government that brought you the HST also wants to free...

In the midst of the first two weeks of consultations over the Ontario government's proposed compensation freeze, members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union have begun a strike for a first contract at Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM).  After voting 97% in favour of strike action, picket lines went up at the school’s two main campuses in  at Laurentian University in Sudbury and at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay.  About 150 clerical, administrative and technical staff are involved.  Outstanding issues include hours of work, overtime, sick leave, family leave, and wages. The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA), which has not reported any progress at its discussions with government on the compensation freeze, wrote to the School in solidarity with the strikers.  OCUFA   noted : Employee compensation is not the cause of the current challenges, and we do not accept that restraint on the part of your ...

The provincial government Estimates (a document where the government lays out in some detail how it intends to spend the money in the provincial Budget) indicates that health care 'provincial programs' are going up $943,146,400 this year compared to last year.  (Line item 1412 .)  Just shy of a billion dollars. Now that's a whopper of an increase: a 37.5% increase in fact ! While the provincial government is giving its own 'provincial programs' a massive increase, the LHINs (the main funder of hospitals, home care, and long term care) will be getting a miserly 1.5% increase. In fact the total increase for the LHINs, $322 million, is about a third of the $943 million increase for the (much smaller) 'provincial programs' budget. A cynic might suspect the government is giving itself a free hand to make funding announcements, while the LHINs are stuck with the job of telling hospitals, homes, and home care providers that 'There's no money, ther...

OPSEU (the Ontario Public Service Employees Union) is planning an August 19th protest near Ottawa:  Tell Premier Dalton McGuinty: Wage cuts, corporate tax cuts and under-funding public services hurts Ontario!      The protest will take place at a Liberal fundraiser at (where else) a golf club . The protest starts at 6 am .  Donations will be accepted for the Champions for Children Foundation of the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa. OPSEU has also announced that their very recent Youth Employment Services settlement includes a signing bonus of $250 for every employee, a 2% raise in the second year of the agreement and improvements in health and welfare, including $300 for eye care. Sounds like some good work. For more on the OPSEU protest see here . 

Research by Robert Kavcic of BMO Nesbitt Burns suggests that Ontario deficit numbers will be favorably revised (again), in the near term, due to better than expected economic growth (and job growth). "Ontario saw annualized real GDP growth of 6.8% and 6.2% in the two quarters through 2010Q1, the strongest pace since 1999. Our Provincial Economic Momentum Index (PEMI), made up of 36 monthly indicators, also suggests that activity in the province is growing at a full standard deviation above the trend rate, and points to further upside in real GDP growth in the months ahead.Employment has been a key support to the province’s momentum, sprinting 3.1% in the past year, the fastest rate in Canada and nearly recouping all of the job losses seen during the recession…. Regardless of how growth plays out in the quarters ahead, the recent performance of Ontario’s economy has been substantially better than the Province expected in its FY2010/11 budget.” While the bank report (predictabl...

Niagara Police were just awarded close to 10% over 3 through an interest arbitration award. (Interest arbitrations are a way to settle contract disputes for 'essential' workers without using strikes or lockouts. In Ontario, they are typically used for police and  fire fighters as well as  hospital and long term care employees).  The Niagara contract expires December 2011 and the  award comes from the well known arbitrator George Adams, who was the chair of the OCHU-Ontario Hospital  interest arbitration that covered the years 1995-2001. Despite all the compensation complaints (histrionics?)  from the provincial government, the Niagara Council Chair is much more sanguine: "It is what it is. This is the decision of the arbitrator. We'll accept that and will now move forward for the next three years." For more on this, see here  . dallan@cupe.ca

Holding the line on those salaries .... is a linchpin of the government's plan to eliminate Ontario's $21.3-billion deficit.  ( Windsor Star -- See here .  My emphasis.  ) This seems to be the  notion  behind the government's compensation freeze proposal. I use "notion" advisedly here:  this doesn't really qualify as a full fledged 'idea'. Here's why. Some have suggested the wage freeze might 'save' $750 million next year. But that is a gross exaggeration.  The government (and government backed employers) have already signed contracts with the major public sector bargaining groups for this year, next year, and, often, beyond that. So any savings aren't going to happen for these groups any time soon.  And, of course, decreasing the real wages of a large chunk of workers will have a negative impact on the economy and local jobs. The incomes of working people support local economies - more so t...

"The purpose of the consultations is to provide opportunities for broader public sector bargaining agents, employers and the government to engage in a dialogue about how we can work together to manage compensation expense in a fair manner that protects key public services ," said ...Tim Hadwen, assistant deputy minister of the Labour Relations Secretariat. (My  emphasis. -- DA) This has been the consistent argument from the provincial government -- we are freezing wages to protect public services.  However,  we have not seen too much protection of public services in the hospital sector, so far. On Tuesday, for example, the government appointed Central East LHIN approved plans to cut 182 full time hospital jobs at Peterborough Regional Health Centre. Cornwall, which announced plans to cut 30 jobs, had 22 patients in ER on Friday waiting for a hospital bed. And despite all this, we get a steady drone from the government that they are not cutting h...