In a significant mark of solidarity, Mark Jessop, President of the BFLA wrote the following letter to Premier Wynne, Hon. Deb Matthews, as well as the MP & MPP of Barrie.
Hello and Holiday greetings to all of you,
I would like to bring to your attention the on-going strike by the Red Cross/CarePartners personal support workers in Ontario. We hear increasingly from the field and all levels of governments that home-care is a growing need across the country, and that it is vital to sustained universal healthcare in this country. The focus, however, seems to rest on the people receiving such care without much thought given to the people, mostly women, who minister to ill and elderly people who are released from hospital and need care at home. Such workers are paid barely above minimum wage and their level of pay maxes out at $15.00 an hour. Furthermore, their travel expenses from one patient to the next are not compensated at the standard rate, and therefore they have to pay out of their own pocket to cover some of the cost of doing their work.
I invite you to visit www.justice4PSWs.ca and learn more about the people in Ontario providing a very important service to citizens in need. I also urge you to apply pressure on the Red Cross and CarePartners to return to the negotiating table and address these issues in good faith. If not, citizens in dire need will suffer from lack of care and very valuable, trained, and caring personnel will be leaving the profession.
We, as caring Canadians and Ontarians, cannot let this situation fester any longer.
Thank you.
Mark Jessop
President
Barrie Federal Liberal Association
J4PSWSBLOG 