The Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Ontario Council of Hospital Unions wants to end the use of unregulated and untrained staff in long-term care homes.
The measure was put in place during the pandemic to help ease the strain on staff.
The Council’s president Michael Hurley says it needs to end.
“We believe it’s an attack on a workforce which is overwhelmingly female, highly racialized, and it has to be seen in that light,” says Hurley.
“It’s a move to depress wages in this sector, depress the skill levels which will have a profound impact on the residents in these homes across Ontario.”
Hurley notes that 81% of long-term care residents have some form of cognitive impairment and several with dementia who display violence.
He says there is a considerable amount of skill and training required to be able to deal with these residents.
Hurley feels the government should address the working conditions causing 25% of personal support workers to leave the profession each year.
“The solution is to provide a living wage to personal support workers, and it’s to provide a bold goal for this province of filling the vacancies that need to be filled and of training to compensate for the attrition that’s constant in this sector.”
