The Ontario Health Coalition and the Auditor General both recently released reports showing the number of closures of emergency departments and of services within our hospitals this past year.
In response, three major hospital unions are demanding the Ford government come to the bargaining table with the funding required to negotiate a deal to save public hospitals.
We spoke with Michael Hurley, president of OCHU/CUPE, who says there’s a the large number of people waiting for operations and procedures past the medically recommended time periods for their illness and on any given day, over 12,000 people are waiting on stretchers unable to get beds in Ontario hospitals.
OCHU/CUPE, SEIU Healthcare and Unifor says the governments current plan to add 3,000 hospital beds over the next decade and plan to increase hospital funding in 2023 by 0.5% doesn’t cut it.
The unions say if the government continues to be neglectful, there is a growing appetite for militancy among their members.
Written by: Emily Chatwood