Open Letter on Bill 124
Open Letter on Bill 124
DOWNLOAD PDFMay 25, 2021
Dear Premier Ford and Deputy Premier Elliott,
Bill 124 has some significant and concerning impacts on community-based home and community care service providers which this letter looks to address
Since March 2020, this province has battled COVID-19. Ontario healthcare workers have risen to the unprecedented challenge of being on the frontlines of an unrelenting pandemic, facing hardship, long hours, while risking their own personal health.
Playing a key role in this crisis has been the home and community care front line workers who serve and protect the most vulnerable Ontarians, helping keep seniors and people with disabilities living safely and independently in their own homes and communities thus lowering their risk of exposure to COVID-19.
The home and community care workforce is in a crisis only exasperated by the current pandemic. Recruitment and retention of front-line workers is our most pressing challenge. Nurses and Personal Support Workers are the lowest paid in the health system, and these wage disparities have led many front-line workers leaving the sector to go work to those that are better compensated. Capping salaries of an already drastically low paid workforce will only lead to alarming vacancies in our sector.
Our sector needs wage parity, not wage caps. PSWs in the home and community care sector are making on average 19% less than PSWs in the hospital sector and 9% less than PSWs in the long-term care sector. Nurses in the home and community care have a median salary wage gap versus hospitals at $11.00 an hour. Between 2004 and 2019, the maximum annual wage growth for Registered Nurses in home care was between 1.3% and 2.2%.
The home and community care sector is a crucial and cost-effective player in ending hallway health care, and can ensure Ontarians receive care at home and in their community rather than prematurely in expensive institutionalized settings. However, this cannot be achieved if the sector cannot recruit and retain the appropriate human resources to deliver services at home and in the community.
We strongly recommend that community-based not-for profit home and community care providers be exempt from Bill 124 in the same way that for-profit providers of home and community care are exempt.
Bill 124 will further strain our members’ ability to recruit and retain front-line workers. The Government cannot reward the incredible dedication shown by our sector’s workforce, especially over the last 14 months, with compensation restrictions. Our sector cannot afford this and neither can the over 1 million seniors and adults with physical disabilities who rely on these workers to live independently at home.
On behalf of the home and community care sector, we urge you to immediately exempt home and community care workers from Bill 124.
Should you need further information, please contact Eric Mariglia, Manager of Policy, Government and Stakeholder Relations, at eric.mariglia@ocsa.on.ca or 416-256-3021 ext 227.
Sincerely,
Deborah Simon
CEO, OCSA
CEO, OCSA
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