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On February 26, 2019, the Ontario Government introduced the People’s Health Care Act, 2019 (Bill 74). This Act proposes the establishment of a single Health Agency— Ontario Health (the Super Agency) and the establishment of local Ontario Health Teams that will connect health care providers and services around patients and families.

COPE letter

Power of Many – Ford Tracker
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OFL – Ford Tracker – 01042019

will you step up

The Ford government is proposing massive restructuring to hospitals, long-term care, home care, community care, mental health, etc.
The new legislation, which has been forged with no public consultation whatsoever, will take away local control of health care services.

Protect our local health care services from mega-mergers and privatization.

Protect and improve our public health care! NO to cuts & privatization!

April30 Rally Poster3
Town hall poster updated
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Protect our local health care services from mega-mergers and privatization

Town Hall Meeting
Thursday April 4th at 6:30 pm
Thunder Bay 55+ Centre
700 River Street

A huge shout out to one of the TBRHSC retirees Terry Blatchford. Terry was the 50/50 winner at the annual COPE Local 96 Christmas dinner and donated a large amount of her winnings to the Paediatrics Department at the Regional Hospital.

This year COPE Local 96 decided to donate half the money raised from the 50/50 to a local charity/organization in our community. The Paediatrics Department holds a Christmas party every year for the children who are in the hospital at Christmas time. Santa comes to visit the children in the hospital even when they can’t make it home for the holidays. All the money raised helped buy Christmas gifts for the children. COPE Local 96 hopes to make a yearly donation to such worthwhile causes. Tyler Biloski from “The Magic and Illusion of Tyler Biloski” will be there as well to put on a show for the children.

We hope everyone had a good time at the Christmas dinner.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from your COPE Local 96 Executive.

Christmas supper poster 2018

COPE Local 96
Annual Christmas Social
Tuesday, December 11th, 2018

The Columbus Centre, 301 May Street South

Symposium 6:00
Dinner 6:30

Tickets available from your executive – $10.00 each
Continue reading “Annual Christmas Social”

The strike at the Port Arthur Health Clinic began on April 9. Unifor Local 229, which represents the employees, and clinic management restarted talks on Tuesday.

That produced a tentative agreement, which was ratified by union members on Tuesday evening, and then by the clinic’s board on Wednesday. The two sides then spent most of Wednesday negotiating a back-to-work protocol, which governs how and when the employees will return to the job.

Unifor national president Jerry Dias said the protocol will be signed Thursday, and he expects the employees will be back at work by early next week, at the latest.

“It was a long time coming,” Dias told CBC Thunder Bay’s Superior Morning on Thursday. “This is the best thing for our members, it’s the best thing for the clinic, and it’s by far the best thing for the community, so I’m quite pleased this morning.”

Dias said the new agreement includes wage increases and benefit improvements for the employees (there is some discrepancy in terms of the number of employees who were involved in the strike — the clinic says the agreement affects 57 people, while the union maintains the number is 65, with Dias saying no employees left their jobs during the strike, to the best of his knowledge).
“The bottom line is, I think what was attained is a willingness on both sides to get back to work and to repair this incredibly-fractured relationship,” Dias said. “That has to be the starting point.”

The strike got heated, particularly last week, when the union advised the public and clinic management of its intention to shut the clinic down to pressure the clinic to resume negotiations.

Pickets and supporters surrounded the clinic on Aug. 8, and a temporary fence was set up, preventing people from accessing the clinic. The move effectively shut the clinic down for three days, as management attempted to get a court injunction to stop picketers from preventing anyone from accessing the clinic, and limit their ability to picket on clinic property.

A temporary injunction was granted, with the injunction scheduled to be argued in court on Aug. 10. However, when the two sides returned to court, they instead met behind closed doors to discuss the strike, which led to Tuesday’s formal negotiations.

Thunder Bay police also became involved after a man leaving the clinic with his daughter was allegedly struck in the face by male picketer on Aug. 7.

Police also responded to an alarm at the clinic just before 6 a.m. on Aug. 10. There, officers found an electrical box on the outside of the building which had allegedly been tampered with, causing a loss of power to the clinic.

Dias said the union and clinic management will now have regular meetings “so that this type of animosity doesn’t build over time.”

He said those meetings were written into the newly-signed collective agreement: the two sides will hold at least four “major” meetings each year, Dias said.

Please join us for a POP UP PROTEST “500 STRONG” in support of the 65 Striking Women of the Port Arthur Health Centre. To date the Doctors/Owners of the PAHC have ignored the request by their union Unifor to sit down and negotiate a fair contract. They have been on strike for over 100 days. This is not who we are as a city, this is not who we are as employers. We hope to gather 500 strong voices to let the Doctors/Owners know that enough is enough. Get back to the job of healing not holding these women hostage. Please wear RED to show that our hearts are bleeding for these fine women.

Demonstrations to take place each Monday until management gets back to bargaining table

Supporters of the striking workers at the Port Arthur Health Centre in Thunder Bay, Ont., will begin a series of weekly actions on Monday aimed at calling the clinic’s doctors to the bargaining table.

The events, dubbed The Longest Picket Line in the World, will take place each Monday at midday outside the centre, where members of Unifor Local 229 have been on the picket line since April 9.

The union represents 65 staff members at the clinic, including appointment secretaries, medical aides and medical records staff.

All of them are women.

Two thirds of the women working at the centre are casual workers, according to the union, meaning they have no guaranteed hours of work from week to week. Wages are so low, the union said, that nearly 65 per cent of the employees will see an increase when the minimum wage goes up in January.
Organizers of the weekly actions chose a time frame of noon to 2:00 p.m. because that’s when both the physicians who employ the striking workers and the temporary employees taking their places take their lunch breaks, said organizer Lori Paras.

“We want to be there to see their faces and show them that we’re concerned about what they’re doing to these ladies,” she said.

The first event will include a hot dog BBQ, courtesy of a pair of donors who contributed hot dogs, fixings, coffee and juice, Paras said.

Lori Paras helped organize the Monday demonstrations in support of the striking workers. She said the events will continue until the doctors sit down to negotiate with their employees. Paras previously organized a walk in support of the striking workers, which took place on June 25.

She decided to keep the pressure on after learning that the action did not result in any talks.

“The doctors did not reach out, ask to sit down, follow up, nothing,” Paras said. “So we decided, well, if you’re not going to answer with that knock on the door, we’re going to knock on the door again, this time a little bit harder, by showing up and picketing with them and showing them our support.”

The protests will continue until the doctors sit down with the employees, she added.