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Kawartha Lakes front line workers feel â•Ÿforgotten by Fordâ•Ž Kawartha Lakes front line workers feel 'forgotten by Ford' Catherine Whitnall Kawartha Lakes healthcare workers took to the street Friday (July 17) to protest a new bill they believe will strip them of their workplace rights and effectively turn them from heroes to zeroes. "COVID-19 has been a horrifying pandemic for Ontario and the world, all healthcare workers and even the City of Kawartha Lakes," said Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 1909 President and Ross Memorial Hospital registered nurse Maggie Jewell. "To date roughly 6,300 healthcare workers have contracted the virus and, sadly, 14 have lost their lives. . . . We're all scared, but we know what we committed to. We're committed to our hospital; to our community." So when Ontario Premier Doug Ford presented Bill 195 last week, it was a total "slap in the face" to everyone who has made sacrifices to help others and keep their communities safe, Jewell says. Bill 195, Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act 2020 is part of the government's plan to balance cautiously reopening the province with the ongoing effects of the virus. If passed, it ensures the province can remain flexible while protecting people and their safety as Ontario continues to reopen by extending emergency orders. It would also allow frontline staff to be redeployed to long-term care or retirement homes to care for vulnerable people and allow public health to redeploy staff to work in areas such as contact tracing. It sounds good on the surface, but Jewell said what lurks below is a dismantling of rights. The Bill, she said, would see the government control collective bargaining and override such things as leaves of absence and overtime. "We've been doing all that voluntarily," said Jewell. "It wasn't needed. We were called healthcare heroes and now we're liabilities. . . . We don't understand why he [Ford] has to go to this extreme." Jewell points out, like the pandemic, the Bill doesn't just negatively impact nurses, noting CUPE represents 36 different occupations. Individuals such as housekeeping, maintenance and lab technicians - who didn't qualify for pandemic pay despite the fact they work in the same environment as 'essential workers' -are also being affected along with long-term care homes. "Healthcare has taken the biggest hits over the last decade, yet we're deemed to be crucial," said Jewell. "The community leaned on us during this pandemic. Now we're counting on the public to lean on the government, to contact their MPPs and stop this." Kawartha Lakes front line workers feel 'forgotten by Ford' https://www.mykawartha.com/news-story/10078448-kawartha-lakes-front... 1 of 1 7/17/2020, 2:21 PM