4540
Large Rally in protest of Bruyere Health eliminating 55 Cupe positions.
Come support the 45 PCA's and 9 RPN's who will be affected
Lunch will be provided!!!
Press conference against Bruyere cutting 55 Cupe positions
Union warns pending cuts will impact care (CTV - TV)
Ottawa’s Bruyère Health is laying off 55 front-line health workers, according to the union that represents nurses and personal support workers there.
In a release, the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions and the Canadian Union of Public Employees said the cuts would include 46 personal support workers and nine nurses. Those front-line health workers are among 60 layoffs overall at the hospital, the union said.
Douglas Currier, a registered practical nurse who is president of the CUPE union local at Bruyère Health, said he was shocked to hear about the layoffs, saying patient care at the hospital specializing in aging, rehabilitation and care for those with complex medical conditions was already compromised “due to threadbare staffing.
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“It’s mind-boggling to hear about job cuts at our hospital when care is already at a breaking point,” Currier said in a statement.
Currier, who has worked as a nurse at the hospital for 30 years, said he had never seen the current level of exhaustion among staff.
Bruyère had an annual operating deficit of more than $12 million in 2025 — the largest among hospitals in Ottawa. It has been running deficits for the past several years, according to data compiled by the Investigative Journalism Bureau.
Bruyère Health is just the latest Ontario hospital to announce front-line staff cuts amid a provincial plan to have debt-ridden hospitals balance their budgets within three years.
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Ontario’s Financial Accountability Office says the provincial budget plan will result in the loss of 2400 hospital beds and 9000 nurses and personal support workers by 2027-28. According to an analysis from the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, that could result in the loss of 735 front-line health workers and up to 200 hospitals beds in Ottawa alone over the next two years.
Ontario’s hospitals have among the lowest funding per capita and bed count in Canada.
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Elections Results
Granite Ridge Site Representatives
Welcome to your new executive members
​1st VP Granite Ridge
Lisa Johnston
Alternate Site VP - Granite Ridge
Brenda Umuolo
Meet the union on December 9& 10
Granite Ridge
Bargaining update
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The union and employer bargained for 4 days over between mid-September to mid-October days
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Discussions were productive to begin with, but it soon became clear the employer was far from willing to meet requirements when it came to our monetary proposals
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The parties weren’t able to get a deal, so we requested a day of mediation with a provincially appointed conciliation officer
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We attended mediation in good faith in an effort to get deal and presented a settlement offer to the employer
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The employer said that they were not in a position to respond to our offer at mediation, which in our opinion showed that there was no possibility of us getting a deal at mediation
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The employer has had all our proposals since we started bargaining in mid September
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No excuse from the union’s perspective not to be prepared to respond to our settlement offer
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As the employer couldn’t respond to our settlement offer, we were forced to end the day of bargaining and ask to have the matter referred to arbitration
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We’ve let the employer know we’re open to continuing settlement discussions between now and arbitration
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We hope they take us up on it, but the employer is not happy with us calling them out on not coming to mediation with any authority to make a deal
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We’re not happy with them for dragging us to mediation, knowing what we were asking for without any real ability to get a deal
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Sam
Ward Clerk Day
CUPE 4540 WILL BE HOLDING A DRAW FOR TWO LUCKY WINNERS OF
100 DOLLAR VISA CARDS
Sophie
