Red Cross Home Care workers vote to strike

Service Employees International Union
News Release

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TORONTO - Strike vote results confirmed today that Red Cross Home Care workers represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1 Canada are prepared to go on strike.

The workers voted 88 per cent in favour of as strike if negotiations do not progress. The vote took place over 6 weeks in 30 locations across Ontario.

"The responsibility of Home Care workers is increasing so quickly, and the pressure on individual workers has got to the point where we are losing lots of skilled home care providers every day. That's why I voted to strike," says Claire Dahms, an Owen Sound-based Home Care Provider.

"We are standing up for ourselves and our clients. The whole system is in big trouble," says Home Care Provider Joan Gray of Sarnia.

Contract bargaining between the Red Cross and SEIU Local 1 Canada broke down in June.

The SEIU negotiating team cited the Red Cross' unwillingness to address compensation for travel time or improve mileage allowance as the key issues that triggered the strike vote.

"I am not surprised by the results of the vote," says SEIU's chief negotiator, Cathy Carroll. "Day after day from Iroquois Falls to Cornwall our members arrived at the polls and what they were saying to me is reflected in this vote - and not only is vote percentage high, so was the voter turnout. It was huge."

SEIU and the Red Cross resume bargaining July 30, when SEIU will deliver the vote results to the employer.

SEIU Local 1 Canada represents 46,000 health care workers in hospitals, long term care facilities, nursing and retirement homes, and community services across Ontario.

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