[GTranslate]TORONTO – Health workers in the province are raising their voices and calling for higher wages and the possibility of having the necessary personal protective equipment (PPE).

Despite the fact that the pandemic has been raging for a year now, the safety of health workers is not yet guaranteed. According to the three most important unions Unifor, SEIU Healthcare and CUPE, which represent 175 thousand health workers in Ontario. 

SECRETARY-TREASURER of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions Sharon Richer revealed that at the start of the pandemic many workers were denied access to PPE that was often kept under lock and key by employers. In some cases, Richer pointed out – despite the province’s reassurances – which has a stockpile of 12.4 million devices to protect health and ensure safety at work – workers find it difficult to obtain masks, disposable gloves and gowns. “We are asked to work with a deadly virus – he said – we are not given the tools to protect ourselves and we are not supported if we get sick. We demand better from this government and our employers.”

The price paid by workers in this sector since the beginning of the Covid pandemic is not negligible: thousands have contracted the virus and 20 have died.

During the first wave of coronavirus, there was a heated debate about how Covid had spread and at the same time the N95 masks were difficult to find. “But now it is a year that the pandemic is underway, there is no excuse not to provide workers with everything they need to be protected – says Richer wordlessly – masks were very scarce but they are not now … we should not show up every day in the workplace and beg for the necessary devices to protect ourselves from this virus.”

Protection and wages are the two issues to be resolved with regard to personal support workers (PSW) who continue to work with dedication despite the fear that the virus is always lurking. “What the unions are also asking the government to do is to increase psw wages in all health facilities to $25,” said SEIU President Stewart, “the pandemic has highlighted the importance of PSW in hospitals, long-term care and home care.” But a staffing study published by the province last year revealed the disparity between PSW wages in different sectors of the health care system: in essence, those working in the province’s long-stay nursing homes earn an average hourly wage of $22.69 while the pay of PSW providing home care averages $17.30 an hour.

Stewart said working conditions for personal support workers are poor, full-time jobs, as well as benefits, are difficult to achieve and payrolls are light. “The government… it must raise the minimum wage for personal care workers and make it universal in every sector – Ms. Stewart said – whether you work in a hospital, a nursing home or in the home and community care sector, a PSW is a PSW.” “Covid-19 has overloaded Ontario’s health system and led to the tragic failure of long-term care – added Katha Fortier of Unifor – but the truth is that the pandemic has revealed systemic problems that frontline workers have been struggling with for years.”