{"id":46940,"date":"2021-08-24T09:20:22","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T13:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/?p=46940"},"modified":"2021-08-24T09:20:22","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T13:20:22","slug":"ontario-further-extending-temporary-wage-increase-for-personal-support-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/24\/ontario-further-extending-temporary-wage-increase-for-personal-support-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario Further Extending Temporary Wage Increase for Personal Support Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/trillium-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-33734\" src=\"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/trillium-1-300x274.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"274\" \/><\/a>The Ontario government is investing an additional $169 million to extend the temporary wage increase for personal support workers and direct support workers for the third time since its initial investment last year. This increase will continue until October 31, 2021 and will help stabilize staffing levels and support our frontline health care workers to ensure the province is prepared to respond to any scenario as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince the outset of the pandemic, personal support workers and direct support workers have been critical in supporting some of our most vulnerable patients,\u201d said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. \u201cAs we head into the fall, ensuring Ontario\u2019s personal support workers are supported will ensure patients continue to receive the high-quality care they need.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The government is extending the wage enhancement for over 158,000 workers who deliver publicly funded personal support services or direct support services in hospitals, long-term care, home and community care and social services until October 31, 2021. This includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>$3 per hour for approximately 38,000 eligible workers in home and community care;<\/li>\n<li>$3 per hour for approximately 50,000 eligible workers in long-term care;<\/li>\n<li>$2 per hour for approximately 10,000 eligible workers in public hospitals; and<\/li>\n<li>$3 per hour for approximately 60,000 eligible workers in children, community and social services providing personal direct support services for the activities of daily living.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This latest temporary wage increase builds on the government\u2019s previous wage enhancement extension on June 11, 2021, which was set to expire on August 23, 2021. Since October 2020, Ontario has invested $841 million and, with this additional $169 million, will have invested over $1 billion for personal support workers and direct support workers. The province will continue to review the wage increase to inform its next steps to ensure this important investment will bring the greatest stability and support for Ontario\u2019s personal support workers and direct support workers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis wage enhancement extension recognizes the vital work and significant sacrifices that personal support workers and direct support workers continue to make to keep Ontarians, including our most vulnerable, safe and healthy,\u201d said Prabmeet Sarkaria, President of the Treasury Board. \u201cWe will continue to make historic investments to improve home and community care, long-term care, public hospitals and the social services sector throughout the province as part of our fight against COVID-19.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur government is committed to rebuilding and repairing long-term care in Ontario,\u201d said Rod Phillips, Minister of Long-Term Care. \u201cFurther extending the wage increase will help us continue to attract and retain personal support workers who provide residents with the care they need and deserve everyday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To protect vulnerable patients and staff in settings where the risk of contracting and transmitting COVID-19 and the Delta variant is higher, on August 17<sup>th<\/sup> the Chief Medical Officer of Health issued a directive mandating hospitals and home and community care service providers to have a COVID-19 vaccination policy for employees, staff, contractors, students and volunteers, including personal support workers. This is similar to the vaccination policy requirements currently in place for long-term care homes. Vaccination policies will also be implemented in other higher-risk settings where personal support workers and direct support workers provide care, including licensed retirement homes, congregate group homes and day programs for adults with developmental disabilities, children\u2019s treatment centres and other services for children with special needs, and licensed children\u2019s residential settings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe remain grateful for support workers who, throughout the pandemic, have continued to provide vital services to individuals with developmental disabilities and complex needs,\u201d said Dr. Merrilee Fullerton, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services. \u201cPersonal and direct support workers across the province have been instrumental to ensuring our loved ones receive the quality care they need, and the temporary wage increase is meant to recognize and celebrate their important work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ontario government is investing an additional $169 million to extend the temporary wage increase for personal support workers and direct support workers for the third time since its initial investment last year. This increase will continue until October 31, 2021 and will help stabilize staffing levels and support our frontline health care workers to &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":31649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 01:59:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46940"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46941,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46940\/revisions\/46941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}