Welcome to our site. We hope it helps you to learn about the skills and training it takes to work in one of the Region of Peel’s long-term care facilities – what we used to call “nursing homes.”
We are Local 966 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and we represent nearly a thousand of the people who work in Peel’s four long-term care homes. Four of us have agreed to sponsor a blog, because the Region doesn’t seem to believe us when we say our jobs require special skills and qualities.
Almost all of the thousand people who work in our long-term care homes are women. And we suspect that because we’re women, the Region won’t rate our jobs at a level which reflects the skills we require. That’s hurting the residents of these homes and their families and loved ones.
If you want the political and economic arguments on our pursuit of pay equity, please visit our sister site, www.itsthelaw.ca. This site is about the people who work to take care of your parents, aunts, uncles or grandparents. We hope you can see from our stories how valuable our work is to the community. Please check back often as new blog entries are added regularly. You can follow us on Twitter and Facebook too.
We hope to get your questions and comments on our blog entries. All comments are moderated and we won’t allow abuse, but we welcome your input.
Our wish is that our stories will not only help you see what life is like in one of our facilities, but will give insight into the work itself for people who might be interested in a career in long-term health care. In the meantime, we’re confident you’ll gain a new appreciation of what we bloggers – and hundreds of our colleagues – contribute to our community.