Newsletter: April 1, 2021

No paid sick days, unvaccinated workers & COVID-19 variants: deadly storm.

Ontario’s ICU admissions have reached their highest point since the start of the pandemic. While the third wave is quickly becoming the most devastating one yet, it is bewildering that the provincial government has deliberately acted to deny workers paid sick days. 

Our most recent article explains that no paid sick days, unvaccinated workers, and the wild-fire spread of COVID-19 variants make for a deadly storm. We must hold our elected officials accountable to the crucial lessons we learned in the first and second wave: precarious work and a lack of paid sick days are key drivers of infection that continue to harm Black, racialized, and low-income communities most. 

Join us this April 7th from 7:00-8:00pm EST on World Health Day for a phone zap to call on our MPPs and provincial ministers to legislate paid sick days. The event will be co-hosted with CUPE 905, Toronto & York Labour Council and the Fight for $15 and Fairness. Register here to receive Zoom details!

As you may remember, on March 1, the Ontario government voted against paid sick days legislation introduced by MPP Peggy Sattler, despite support from all three opposition parties. Thanks to our hard work building enormous public pressure, another bill that would legislate 10 paid sick days — Bill 247, Paid Personal Emergency Leave Now Act — has passed first reading and is expected to be up for a vote this Spring. When we call our elected officials, we will let them know that they must not make the same mistake again. Our communities expect them to vote for paid sick days to save lives.

Paid sick days help with vaccine uptake

Medical evidence shows that paid sick days increase vaccine uptake during the flu season, and beyond. A recent SEIU survey of front-line health care workers found that 64% were worried about losing pay to take the COVID-19 vaccine. The most cited barrier to vaccination is a lack of paid sick time. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US recently cited paid sick leave as a best practice in workplaces to improve vaccine uptake. 

Not only does paid time off allow workers to get the vaccine during daytime hours, but it supports precarious workers who simply cannot afford to lose income to recover from side effects.

We know that paid sick days are not a radical or new idea. In the US, 14 states and Washington, DC, have legislated paid sick leave. California and New York are currently bolstering their existing paid sick leave with supplemental paid days for COVID-19 and paid time for vaccination respectively. 

In Saskatchewan, the provincial government is implementing 3 hours of paid time for vaccination. While this will support some workers to get vaccinated, it isn’t sufficient to support recovery from potential side effects, and it is far from the adequate paid sick days workers need. Join us at our next organizing meeting on April 20, 2021 from 7:00-9:00pm to strategize how we can win paid sick days for all during the next phase of our work. RSVP here. 

Health workers support our unhoused neighbours and patients

As health providers, we know that safe, dignified housing is foundational to facilitating the wellbeing of our patients and the health of our communities by enabling access to services and employment. Toronto is in the middle of a sustained crisis of affordable housing.

As we enter a devastating third wave, encampments all over the city of Toronto are being served with Notices of Trespassing dated April 6th. This means that if the encampments are not cleared up by then, those served with the notice could face fines up to $10,000 and arrest. Instead of building solutions, the city continues to criminalize people who experience houselessness in the middle of the pandemic, which is extremely detrimental to health. 

If you are a health worker, please sign Health Provider Against Poverty’s open letter denouncing the city’s actions. 

To take further action to support our neighbours living in encampments, check out this toolkit created by the Encampment Support Network which includes links to phone and email templates, as well as sample tweets and upcoming actions!

Let’s talk about anti-Black discrimination and racism in nursing

The Registered Nurses’ Association Ontario (RNAO) hosts a monthly webinar series designed for the public to discuss anti-Black discrimination and racism in nursing. At their webinar, RNAO will provide updates from their Black Nurses Task Force. Their next webinar is coming up on April 19th from 6:30-8:00pm and it’s on recruiting, retaining and advancing Black nurses. Register for the event and check out past webinars here.