Two unions representing 70,000 Ontario hospital workers are calling on the Ford government to provide better protection for its workforce or risk a mass exodus of skilled employees.
According to CUPE and SEIU Healthcare, verbal, physical, sexual, and racially-charged violence against hospital workers – predominantly female employees – has surged during the pandemic and is creating a toxic work environment.
A provincial survey of hospital-based registered practical nurses finds 66 per cent of more than 2,600 respondents said violence towards them or their co-workers from patients or a patient’s family member has increased in the last year and a half. Eighty-seven per cent of those asked said they have considered leaving their jobs.
One Northern Ontario hospital has reported a 300 per cent increase in such attacks while the Ministry of Labour has levied several charges against Southlake Regional Health Centre and its CEO for workplace safety violations relating to patient violence against staff, according to the unions.
The unions say a lack of full-time employment coupled with unsafe working conditions and difficulty accessing protective equipment is making it harder for hospitals to recruit and retain staff.
“Often times construction sites have signage that indicate the number of days since a workplace related injury. If that approach was taken in Ontario’s hospitals, the number would be reset every single day,” said Sharleen Stewart, President of SEIU Healthcare. “It’s sexist and dangerous what hospital executives permit to continue day after day for these female-dominated healthcare workers.”
The unions say a lack of full-time employment coupled with unsafe working conditions and difficulty accessing protective equipment is making it harder for hospitals to recruit and retain staff.
They add that if the level of violence continues, it will deepen Ontario’s hospital staffing crisis.