Striking Health Workers Say MPP Paul Vickers Won't Meet With Them
Owen Sound Family Health Team workers say their MPP has declined meetings and left emails unanswered as their strike over provincial funding for local healthcare drags on.
Workers at the Owen Sound Family Health Team (OSFHT) enter the eighth week of a province-wide strike this week, and they say the region’s MPP has not spoken to them once.
Six picketers who spoke with Owen Sound Current on Friday said Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound MPP Paul Vickers has declined requests to meet and has not answered their emails since the strike began May 25.
“I don’t think he wants to know what’s happening,” one picketer said.
The workers, members of Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Local 276, said representatives picket daily on behalf of 15 OSFHT staff who are off the job. Roughly 50 Community Living Hanover workers, members of OPSEU Local 235, have been on strike since May 23.
What the workers want from their MPP
The workers said the Family Health Team’s executive director has met with Vickers, and that both the employer and the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario have petitioned the province for additional Ministry of Health funding. The workers said Vickers has not extended the same opportunity to meet with them.
Marcelina Salazar, a mental health worker and Local 276 member acting as spokesperson for the group, said the strike is directed at the provincial government, not the employer — and that an MPP’s job is to carry that message to Queen’s Park.
“The Doug Ford line that this is between the union and employers is disingenuous,” Salazar said. She added that employers cannot fund the wage increases being sought because their budgets are set by the Ministry of Health.
“Only the province can change that,” she said.
Owen Sound Current emailed Vickers’ office late Friday afternoon asking whether he intends to meet with the striking workers, and whether he has received and declined their meeting requests. His office had not responded by publication. This story will be updated with any response.
What happens next
The union says 34,000 patients are affected by the disruption to primary care.
Picketers said they will continue daily at three rotating Owen Sound locations: outside Vickers’ constituency office, in front of City Hall, and on the Giche-name-wiikwedong Bridge.
They are collecting signatures on a print petition at the picket line, and are directing supporters to OPSEU’s letter-writing tools and to contact Vickers, Deputy Premier and Health Minister Sylvia Jones, and Ford.
They are also asking residents to call Vickers’ constituency office and press him to meet with them.
Related:
