To The Point: May 2023
OPSEU/SEFPO Sector 19 Newsletter
Download a printable PDF version here.
Greetings Sector 19 members!
Message from Sector Chair – Geoff Cain
Enough is Enough!
Enough is Enough!
Sector 19. You’re likely aware of the OFL’s “Enough is Enough!” Campaign that OPSEU/SEFPO and unions across the province are supporting.
Key issues are:
- A global cost of living crisis.
- Spiking inflation, soaring interest rates and wage suppression
- The Ford government’s privatization agenda
- Manufacturing the health care crises to introduce user fees and private, for-profit services
- Corporate interest over workers’ well-being
These are issues we are experiencing not only with our government but also our Employers! To them we say Enough is Enough!
- Enough of low wages and pathetic increases not compensating workers fairly
- Enough to precarious employment
- Enough of pay equity maintenance that employers ignore
- Enough of toxic workplaces and employer bullying
- Enough of subverting our Collective Agreements and grievance processes
- Enough of schedules that upend work life balance
In the coming weeks you’ll learn of action and support that you and your co-workers can participate in. We’ve all seen
lately what can be accomplished when workers stand together. It’s time to challenge our Employers. Enough is Enough!
No Paid Plasma Queen’s Park Lobby day – April 24
Kat Lanteigne, CEO of BloodWatch, along with your sector chair and OPSEU/SEFPO staff met with a number of Conservative MPPs at Queen’s Park to tell them that Canadian veins are not for profit!
Our group explained that MPPs should be fighting along with us to uphold Ontario’s Voluntary Blood Donations Act and to stop CBS from granting Grifols Pharmaceuticals a monopoly on plasma collection in Ontario.
NDP MPPs posted pictures on social media to support our campaign and tell CBS and Grifols that blood donors are not for sale! #notinmyriding.
No Paid Plasma Campaign
On December 1, 2022, your Divisional Executive helped organize an information picket in front of the CBS headquarters in Ottawa.
Together, with representatives from NUPGE, Bloodwatch.org, CUPE, the Canadian Health Coalition and other supporting unions, the Sector 19 (Canadian Blood Services and Diagnostics) Divisional Executive attended the picket to protest an agreement that CBS has signed with a for-profit, multinational pharmaceutical company (Grifols) to privatize plasma collection.
The Info Picket marked the kick start of our No Paid Plasma Campaign.
And you can join the effort by signing the open letter telling health ministers and key executives at Canadian Blood Services to stop the agreement with Grifols and comply with the terms of the Voluntary Blood Donations Act.
Many people have already signed on including Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles and Health Critic France Gélinas.
Head over to the No Paid Plasma page to sign now:
https://opseu.org/stopforprofitplasma/
CBS Bargaining update and No Paid Plasma info session – April 26, 2023
Recently, your Divisional Executive and CBS Bargaining Teams met throughout the province to discuss the status of bargaining and to hear a presentation about our No Paid Plasma campaign.
Collectively, all CBS Bargaining units need to come together to take action to stop the Grifols deal. Privatized plasma collection will hurt our donor base in both plasma and whole blood collection centres. Let’s help stop this and keep our blood supply safe!
Rally in solidarity with OPSEU/SEFPO Hospital professionals against privatization
On April 27, members of Sector 19 attending the OPSEU/SEFPO Convention in Toronto left the convention venue to rally in solidarity with OPSEU/ SEFPO hospital professionals in their fight against Bill 60, the Ford government’s healthcare privatization bill.
The bill will allow an unlimited number of private clinics to perform OHIP-covered surgical and diagnostic services, pulling funding and staffing away from the public hospital system.
We all stood together to send a message to keep health care public and end the for-profit agenda that threatens all our public health services. collection will hurt our donor base in both plasma and whole blood collection centres.
Let’s help stop this and keep our blood supply safe!
CBS Pay Equity Update
On March 10, 2023 legal counsel retained by OPSEU/SEFPO filed an application to the Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal. We are challenging the decision of the Review Services Officer who ruled that there was no contravention of the Pay Equity Act by the Employer refusing to meet with the Union and involve them in the maintenance of the plan.
We now await dates from the Tribunal for our hearing. A further update will be provided once we get our hearing dates.
PHO Bargaining Update
Further to the last bargaining update sent out on Feb 24, 2023, https://opseu.org/news/pholine-bargaining-bulletin- february-2023/187022/, on March 30, 2023 your bargaining team met with the Employer and we presented our revised monetary offer.
The Employer is now reviewing our offer and obtaining their bargaining mandate through the Treasury Board. We are also expecting many healthcare awards on the Bill 124 wage re-opener to start being released by arbitrators in June and July. Once those awards are released, your team will be reviewing them to ensure our members get at least the same — if not better. Should we fail to get a remedy with the Employer, we will be submitting our arguments to the Arbitrator for final ruling.
Bargaining for the 2023 Collective Agreement will be planned once the Bill 124 remedy discussions are concluded. Members will be advised, and the negotiation procedures will be followed.
CBS Bargaining Update
Similar to our fellow members at PHO, your CBS Bargaining Team is also keeping an eye on what happens with the many healthcare wage re-opener awards expected in June and July 2023. We have prepared a revised monetary package to submit to the Employer, but will not be meeting with the Employer until those awards are available. When we bargained with the Employer and went to our First Arbitration Hearing we had submitted our proposals with Bill 124 restrictions in effect. Bill 124 is now “void and of no effect” so we will be presenting a revised monetary package to the Employer for review and consideration. We are seeking full retroactive pay going back to April 1st, 2021.
International day to combat Islamophobia
March 15, 2023 was observed by the United Nations as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia. This day is an important opportunity to raise awareness about the growing threat of Islamophobia in Canada and around the world and to take action to combat it.
ONE Fertility Update
OPSEU/SEFPO Local 273 ONE Fertility healthcare workers have voted 100 per cent acceptance of their new collective agreement!
The 17 female workers began a 17-day strike countdown on March 13th after bargaining had reached an impasse over wages. After years of receiving lower wages than their counterparts around the province, and experiencing increasingly higher workloads, they stood together to say Enough is Enough!
Just a few hours shy of the 12:01 am strike deadline on March 29, the bargaining team reached a tentative deal with the employer. The deal is a massive win for the ONE Fertility healthcare workers, providing the wage increases they had been fighting for.
BPS Conference
SAVE THE DATE November 17-19 at the Sheraton Centre Toronto. More details to come.
YOUR SECTOR 19 DIVISION EXECUTIVE
Geoff Cain (Chair), [email protected]
Local 160 – Canadian Blood Services
Shah Nawaz (Vice Chair), [email protected]
Local 545 – Public Health Ontario
Sarah Dupuis (Member at Large (CBS)), [email protected]
Local 619 – Canadian Blood Services
Jennifer Johnson (Treasurer), [email protected]
Local 5103 – Canadian Blood Services
Hannan Battah (Member at Large (PHO)), [email protected]
Local 545 – Public Health Ontario