Open Letter To Premier Ford On Pandemic Pay

June 2, 2020
Premier of Ontario
Legislative Building
Queen’s Park
Toronto ON M7A 1A1

Dear Premier Ford,

On April 25, 2020, you announced Pandemic Pay for eligible frontline healthcare workers, effective for 16 weeks from April 24, 2020 until August 13, 2020.

While this was a step in the right direction, tens of thousands of frontline healthcare workers were wrongfully excluded, which showed your government’s clear lack of understanding of the critical roles so many are playing during these unprecedented times.

We acknowledge that because of our efforts, your government has slowly made some improvements to eligible classifications, however, there are still many critical frontline healthcare workers who have been left out, such as pharmacy and lab technicians, diagnostic imaging staff, occupational therapy assistants and physiotherapy assistants, as well as multiple administrative staff who are not client-facing but are still essential in keeping our healthcare system running.

Along with over 8000 of our union members who have signed our petition demanding the expansion of pandemic pay, I am calling on you to immediately ensure that pandemic pay is applied to ALL non-management frontline healthcare workers. We are also asking you to make Pandemic Pay retroactive to the start of this pandemic, instead of the April 24 date that was arbitrarily chosen.

It is long overdue that all frontline healthcare workers, who are risking their lives each and every day during this pandemic, are properly supported and respected. I look forward to your immediate action on this issue.

Sincerely,

Sharleen Stewart
President, SEIU Healthcare