CUPE Head Meets With Hospital Staff in Dryden

The Canadian Union of Public Employees leadership met with 20 regional local branches in Dryden on Friday to urge the provincial government to erase hospital deficits.
Union president Michael Hurley says the 2.1% increase in general operations offered to Ontario’s hospitals this year falls short of the 3.5% rate of hospital inflation.
Hurley says if the Province moves forward with the increase, some 4,000 positions would be left unfilled and 1,000 hospital employees would be laid-off.
He adds patient care is being degraded, jobs are being slashed and services cut in a system where more than half of Ontario hospitals face deficits.