July 2011 Archives

Union organizer Sharleen Stewart is mounting what she calls the "biggest ground campaign" ever seen in Canada ahead of Ontario's fall election.

By Jim Coyle
Feature writer
www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1014531--union-leader-sharleen-stewart-is-bent-on-making-health-care-a-top-provincial-election-issue

To see more than 100 people in purple scrubs dancing to "Cupid Shuffle" on Yonge-Dundas Square at 8 a.m. on Friday morning was to fear Thursday night might have involved epic excess.

But no. The dancers greeting the day in Toronto's downtown core were fresh-faced and clear-eyed. They were choreographed. They were members of the Service Employees International Union.

And they were strutting their stuff to make the point -- at the end of an intriguing training session this week -- that health-care workers at the low end of the wage ladder don't intend to be shrinking violets in the provincial election come October.

Sharleen Stewart, president of SEIU Local 1 in Ontario, told the Star her union is importing tactics used by its American counterpart to help elect President Barack Obama in 2008.

The SEIU plans to mount "the biggest ground campaign" ever seen in Canada. It intends to keep the focus on health care. And it intends to defeat candidates who threaten it.

A new report released this week finds "untenable levels" of overcrowding in Ontario's hospitals. The report by the Ontario Health Coalition found that:

• More than 18,500 hospital beds have been closed since 1990.
• Ontario's hospital occupancy rate is 97.8%, compared to average occupancy rates of 75% for the rest of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.
• Ontario is fourth last in the OECD in numbers of hospital beds per person, followed only by Turkey, Chile and Mexico
• Ontario has the fewest hospital beds per person of any province in Canada.Hospital bed cuts have not been offset by increases in care outside of hospitals. Approximately 10,000 people are on wait lists for home care in Ontario and more than 23,000 people are on wait lists for long term care homes.
• Alternate Level of Care patients number 4,093 across Ontario, but 911 of these patients are waiting for care in hospital. Overcrowded emergency departments

The consequences of overcrowded hospitals include:

• Cancelled surgeries
• Coercive tactics used to force patients out of hospital against their choice
• Inappropriate staffing ratios
• Increased hospital-acquired infections
  
• Poorer health outcomes and increased mortality rates

Read the full report here.

Nearly 300 SEIU members put on their dancing shoes and did the Healthcare hustle at Yonge Dundas Square on Friday June 24 to raise awareness about healthcare issues in the upcoming provincial election. Click here to see the video. The group even got the media's attention, with Citytv's Breakfast Television and the Toronto Star covering the event.

Dressed up in purple scrubs, 300 members danced in unison together to fight for a stronger healthcare system.

SEIU President, Sharleen Stewart, said SEIU members do the hustle all day long at work, so that's why they're doing it in the square this morning. "Our candidate for this election is healthcare," she said. She said this demonstration is about bringing awareness to the public about the importance of healthcare in Ontario.