On May 15, 2019 more than 40 SEIU Healthcare nurses and staff met with several MPPs at Queen’s Park to discuss the challenges they face every day in their profession and the barriers they encounter to providing the best possible care for their patients.
The MPPs were very understanding about the issues our nurses experience and receptive to the recommendations they put forward to make positive changes for the nursing profession and the healthcare system.
SEIU Healthcare nurses shared their experiences with excessive and unsafe workloads, lack of full-time nursing positions, violence and harassment in the workplace; and uncompensated and undercompensated additional nursing roles.
We also hosted a reception at which many MPPs attended. SEIU Healthcare educated them on the provincial healthcare systems’ worsening health human resources crisis. During the event, MPP Natalia Kusendova, MPP France Gelinas, MPP Mitzie Hunter, and the leader of the Green Party of Ontario and MPP Mike Schreiner all spoke about how much they value nurses.
“It was a great experience,” says Kim MacDougall, RPN at Cambridge Memorial Hospital. “It was eye opening and it was nice to have the support of the MPPs. I felt they really listened and they want to make a difference.”
Jamie Amato, RPN at Extendicare Paramed in Sault Ste. Marie, wants to encourage all our members to get more politically active and involved with SEIU Healthcare.
“Everybody out there should become an activist,” says Jamie. “The phrase ‘I’m just not that political’ is a terrible excuse. All the corporations are political. They are all engaging the government to get what they want, so we need to engage the government for what we want, a fair shake.”
Help support our campaign to improve nursing by quickly sending a pre-written letter to your MPP at www.seiunurses.ca.
