May 07, 2009 16:07 ET

CUPE Media Advisory-Liberal MPPs Targeted for Better Long-Term Care: "Residents Deserve Better!"

CUPE takes demand for minimum care standards to constituency offices

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - May 7, 2009) - Front-line workers will hold information pickets outside Liberal MPP offices across Ontario tomorrow, Friday, May 8, to press for minimum care standards in long-term care.

In Toronto, workers will gather at:

WHERE:   Outside the constituency office of MPP David Caplan
         2062 Sheppard Ave. East, Toronto


WHEN:    Friday, May 8
         12:00 - 1:00 PM

Seniors and other residents of long-term care facilities deserve enforceable minimum standards of care. CUPE and other front-line unions in long-term care have identified the need for, on average, 3.5 hours of care per resident, per day.

The government has promised minimum standards but its special committee on long-term care has now explicitly rejected them. As a result, CUPE and its partner front-line care unions have revived the campaign to establish enforceable minimum care standards.

Recent funding increases for long-term care have not actually translated into more care, especially in the for-profit sector. What long-term care patients need is the accountability of a minimum standard of care of 3.5 hours per patient per day. CUPE workers - and several research studies - have identified 3.5 hours of care as adequate, necessary, and fair.