On May 1, 2006, the McGuinty government said it would invest $117.8 million to improve home care and community services this year.
The minimum wage for Personal Support Workers was to increase from $9.65 per hour to $12.50 per hour.
Home care workers were to receive enhanced benefits such as travel time and mileage compensation.
All this was to have been retroactive to April 1st 2006.
"To date no money has flowed," said Cathy Carroll, Secretary Treasurer of the Service Employees International Union Local 1.on, a province wide health care local union which represents 8,000 home care workers across Ontario.
"Our members are both frustrated and angry. Why is it that a government promise made almost six months ago has not been fulfilled?" Carroll asked.
The Community Care Access Centre for the Eastern Countries was given $1,259,400 to achieve a new minimum wage for home care Personal Support Workers.
In addition, compensating PSWs for mileage and travel time which should work out to approximately $1.50 to $1.60 per client service hour has also not been implemented.
As of October 1, 2006 a PSW in Cornwall starts at $11.72 per hour. It is not until the PSW has attained 6000 service hours that she would move to the highest rate of $12.45 per hour of work.
It is not a living wage given that the work is all part-time with no guarantee of any set number of hours of work.
Travel costs amount to a mere $.23 per kilometre between assignments. The travel to the first client of the day is not paid.
Home care workers receive no benefits and no pension.
"What is going on in the Community Care Access Centre for the Eastern counties is not atypical. This pattern of non-payment exists province wide," Carroll said.
"The McGuinty government has devoted a lot of time to establish 14 new Community Care Access Centres and appoint new Executive Directors and Boards of Directors through order-in-council appointments, but it has done absolutely nothing for the people who deliver the daily care," Carroll said.
"Today we are calling on the local members of the Provincial Parliament Jim Brownell to ask Dalton McGuinty and Health Minster George Smitherman to release the designated money for wages and travel time immediately," Carroll said.
"Dalton McGuinty and the Ontario Liberals are very very good at making promises. What they are not so very good at is keeping their promises," Carroll said.
Official Transcript of the Ontario Legislature
From Hansard October 26 ,2006
Mrs. Carol Mitchell (Huron-Bruce): My question is for the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. Minister, personal support workers are concerned about the pay raise that you announced in May of this year. The personal support workers in this province perform an invaluable service, providing assistance to some of the frailest of all Ontarians and assisting them to live with dignity. Minister, this is a service that we may all find ourselves in need of one day. I find that it's rather surprising -- not too surprising -- that the previous governments had not seen fit to ensure that they paid personal support workers properly, which reflects the import and the skill of the work that they do.
Minister, this government has indicated it understands the importance of Ontario's personal support workers and has promised to address this wage gap. Can you tell us --
The Speaker (Hon. Michael A. Brown): The question has been asked.
Hon. George Smitherman (Deputy Premier, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care): When we think about our personal support workers, we like to say that they bring the love. We all have the opportunity to see them deployed across health care. In fact, last year they delivered 15 million hours of care to home care clients. In Elinor Caplan's report, she gave us a recommendation about enhancements to the compensation for people who are PSWs. We have flowed $30 million of additional resources to community care access centres.
I want to say very clearly that because we've been working with the partners who employ PSWs, we've been slower than would be preferred in rolling those resources out. I want to reiterate the commitment to PSWs today, and tell them further that these will be retroactive to April 1, and that we will be able to move forward very, very soon with the payments that are sought after, to enhance the quality and recognition of the PSW workforce, in recognition of the love that they bring, alongside the care that they provide, to so many Ontarians.
Mrs. Mitchell: Minister, I know that personal support workers from my riding of Huron-Bruce will be very pleased to hear that, and all of the support that you give them. Personal support workers are providing a very much needed service, yet their working conditions can be challenging. This sector has a very high rate of turnover, which inevitably impacts patient care. The personal support workers who have visited my office feel that their contribution to the health care system is not being adequately recognized. Minister, what is this government prepared to do to assist personal support workers in this regard?
Hon. Mr. Smitherman: I agree with the sentiment that says that we haven't done well enough by our personal support workers. I would say that this is a pretty substantial piece of progress and there is, as always in health care, more opportunity. What we're seeking to do is create a model of care in home care where there's a stronger relationship -- that is, that it lasts longer -- between the client and the provider. To do that, we need a more stable environment for our personal support workers. Enhancing their compensation, giving greater acknowledgement to benefits and to travel costs, is a very important step towards stabilizing that very important element of the workforce. That's why I'm proud to be associated with a government that's brought $30 million of additional resource to the table for compensation for our PSWs.
I repeat one more time, I believe on behalf of all members of the House, the deep gratitude that we have for the role that's being provided there, and the recognition that these new resources, which will flow very soon, are overdue and a very necessary element of compensation for personal support workers, in gratitude for the extraordinary work that they're doing on behalf of the people of Ontario.