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TORONTO – After weeks of campaigning for a pandemic premium pay for frontline health care workers, Unifor leadership and members received today’s news from Premier Ford of a $4.00 per hour premium with tearful relief. “For years, long before this pandemic, we have fought for the recognition and respect frontline workers deserve, particularly in the struggling long-term care and retirement home sector,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “The pandemic has brought much needed attention to sectors that were in crisis already. While this announcement is temporary, it is clear that the value of these workers is now being recognized for the essential role they have in our communities, and how as a society, we need to do better. They deserved this premium before the pandemic and they will be deserving of it after.” Unifor has repeatedly asked the Ontario government to address staffing shortages in long-term care to ensure residents can be cared for with dignity. Increasing wages is seen as a key step in addressing recruitment and retention issues plaguing the sector, particularly for Personal Support Workers (PSWs) who often work multiple jobs to earn a living wage. Today’s announcement will add $4.00 to hourly wages and a $250 bonus for those who work more than 100 hours per month. The premium will apply to workers in long-term care, retirement homes, community care, home care and some hospital workers. “$4.00 an hour is a significant increase for many frontline workers and represents an increase larger than they have seen in the last decade,” said Katha Fortier, Assistant to the National President. “We hope this will attract workers back to the sector and help them feel the respect and recognition they deserve.” Unifor’s most recent campaign demanded safer work, better care and fair pay for health care workers. “Health care workers are finally being heard, after years of an increasing workload, working short-staffed and below inflation wage increases,” said Naureen Rizvi, Ontario Regional Director. “Their repeated demonstrations and calls to government for support have brought us here today and they should be proud of their activism, hard work, and persistence.” Unifor will continue to provide updates as information becomes available at unifor.org/COVID19.
