Health Care Unions Oppose Registry Tax On Low-Paid PSWs And Infringement On Worker Rights

SEIU Healthcare, OCHU and Unifor call for pause on PSW Registry implementation until flaws are addressed

TORONTO – SEIU Healthcare, the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE, and Unifor – union’s representing 140,000 health care workers across Ontario – strongly oppose the provincial government’s recently launched registry tax on personal support workers (PSWs), which is structured to isolate workers and leave them without union representation.

The Ministry of Health launched the “Ontario’s Health and Supportive Care Providers Oversight Authority” registry and officially opened it to PSWs on December 1, 2024.While registration is voluntary today, it will not be in the future. In fact, some employers have already made registration a mandatory condition of employment. Unlike every other regulatory body in Ontario, PSWs are prohibited from being on the Board of Directors or on any disciplinary board. This is nothing less than a scheme to raise revenue from PSWs in the years ahead. A registry tax on PSWs is a promise to patients of fewer workers and longer wait times for care.

As currently designed, the government explicitly grants permission to the registry to introduce and raise revenue from PSWs. In the last three years alone, the College of Nurses of Ontario has raised its professional tax on nurses by 31 per cent – a cost totalling $400 annually paid by every working nurse – and the government has opened the door to this new registry doing the same thing for PSWs.

The registry leaves PSWs isolated and without representation when claims are brought against them by either patients or employers. The Government of Ontario has given unchecked authority to the CEO of the registry to deny precarious PSWs access to their income with the stroke of a pen and to impose fines of up to $25,000. The CEO’s power is so great, they can revoke registration without any notice. With a limited right to appeal a decision to the Courts, and without the normal due process rights afforded to all other regulated professions, this registry will further demoralize a workforce already in a recruitment and retention crisis.

A registry designed to tax and unfairly adjudicate PSWs will fail both workers and patients. SEIU Healthcare, the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE and Unifor call for pause on the PSW Registry implementation until these failings are addressed.

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“This registry is nothing short of an attack on personal support workers who are already overworked and underpaid. Forcing PSWs to pay a tax while denying them basic rights and protections is a disgraceful move that will only deepen the health care crisis in Ontario,” said Samia Hashi, Unifor Ontario Regional Director.

“After the heroic contribution of personal support workers during the pandemic, this government should be embarrassed to bring forward a regulatory scheme that denies them basic rights to representation and due process and subjects them to significant fees. After years of consultation, this deeply flawed proposal urgently needs an extensive revision. We will not accept this framework.” Michael Hurley, President, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE.

“An inevitable regulatory tax on underpaid PSWs will add unfair burdens on workers who are already experiencing challenging economic times. Healthcare workers deserve thoughtful oversight, proper representation, and improved wage support, but as currently designed, Ontario’s Health and Supportive Care Providers Oversight Authority puts vulnerable PSWs further at risk.” Sarah Correia, Director of Hospitals & Labour Relations