Fighting Privatization

Wendy Lee, Local 575, inSolidarity Committee On Monday, March 3, 2025, a rally was held at the for-profit plasma Grifols Donation Centre in Whitby between 1-3pm.  Various organizations, including Ontario Health Coalition and unions (OPSEU, CUPE, ONA) came together to protest (Dozens rally against paid plasma donation clinic in Whitby, Ont., calling practice unethical |...

TORONTO – Members of OPSEU/SEFPO’s Liquor Board Employees Division (LBED) rallied inside an LCBO store in downtown Toronto today to draw attention to their demands for fair wages, more full-time jobs, and an end to the Ford government’s privatization of alcohol sales. Participants of the peaceful rally held placards and balloons and handed out flyers...

Please join your Sector 19 Executive and CBS Bargaining Teams from across the province to discuss where each of our CBS unit are in the bargaining cycle, and also to discuss for-profit paid plasma collection in Ontario. Collectively all CBS Bargaining units need to come together to save our public voluntary blood system. Privatized Plasma...

Toronto – The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/SEFPO) and BloodWatch.org are calling on the provincial government to investigate the terms of an undisclosed agreement between Canadian Blood Services (CBS) and the multi-national pharmaceutical giant Grifols. Their call is supported by MPP France Gélinas, the NDP health critic.   The agreement could violate the Voluntary Blood Donations...

QUEEN’S PARK – MPP France Gélinas (Nickel Belt) rose in the legislature to make a statement on World AIDS Day, reminding the government of the Krever Commission and the importance of protecting Ontario and Canada’s blood supply. “Speaker, today, December 1st is World AIDS Day. The most important message AIDS taught Canadians is the importance...

Ottawa – The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/SEFPO), the National Union for Public and General Employees (NUPGE), and BloodWatch.org are raising the alarm on secret plans to privatize plasma collection in Canada. The organizations held a protest today outside Canadian Blood Services (CBS) headquarters to demand the resignation of its CEO and Board Chair, in...

Together with representatives from NUPGE, Bloodwatch.org, CUPE, and the Canadian Health Coalition, the Sector 19 (Canadian Blood Services and Diagnostics) Divisional Executive will hold an information picket outside the CBS head office in Ottawa on December 1. The picket will protest an agreement that CBS has signed with a for-profit, multinational pharmaceutical company (Grifols) to...

TORONTO – Hospital professionals represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/SEFPO) are calling for the Ford government to take immediate action on the hospital staffing crisis by looking at solutions from within the public hospital system, rather than siphon resources to private clinics and for-profit corporations. Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/SEFPO) First...

The Wolfe Island Ferry was shut down for several hours on Sunday, October 16 due to staff shortages – two days after ferry workers from Glenora and Wolfe Island ferries leafletted passengers at both Glenora Ferry docks about the staffing crisis. CTV News interviewed OPSEU/SEFPO Local 428 Vice President Lee MacLaren, who explained why there...

Wolfe Island and Glenora ferry workers from OPSEU/SEFPO Local 428 got lots of support from Kingston and Wolfe Island residents as they picketed and handed out leaflets about the ferry staffing crisis at the Wolfe Island ferry dock on Friday, Oct. 7. The information picket was covered by both The Kingston Whig Standard and The...

President JP Hornick, First Vice-President/Treasurer Laurie Nancekivell and every sector chair of OPSEU/SEFPO’s seven health care divisions have written to Minister of Health Sylvia Jones, warning her that our union will be fighting the Ford government’s health care privatization scheme announced this week, every step of the way. Here is the letter they sent: August...

Children, Community and Social Services Minister Merrilee Fullerton avoided the question and changed the subject when asked in Question Period to end privatized mail sorting in the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), which has led to delayed and suspended ODSP benefits for vulnerable clients. NDP MPP Lise Vaugeois demanded that the Minister stop contracting out...