This past May, the government announced that they were going to establish a Personal Support Worker Registry. 

The government has said that the PSW Registry will be a mandatory registry that it will be at a minimum a list of names of all workers who are PSWs that are employed by publicly funded employers.

The government has also stated that their goal is to ensure as much of the current PSW workforce as possible is included which will mean "grand parenting" of those working in the capacity of PSWs but who may not have that classification currently, such as Health Care Aids. 

The PSW Registry is currently in the process of being developed so there are many matters that are not yet resolved or known but there are a number of issues that CUPE and OCHU did raise with the government when we had the opportunity to meet with them about this.

A PSW Registry has already been established in British Columbia which can provide us with a framework for what the Ontario government is planning. In BC, if you want to work for a publicly funded employer, your name must be on the registry.  The registry also acts as a disciplinary structure where employers are mandated to report such things as abuse and terminations related to such.  In BC, there is an additional investigation done by the registry and based on the outcome of this you can be removed from the registry. 

At this time, the Registry is currently in the process of being set up by an employer led group, the Ontario Community Support Association, who has created a steering committee for this purpose.  The MOHLTC gave this responsibility to them and CUPE Ontario and OCHU have formally objected to the employer leading this process.  We shared with MOHLTC that it is inappropriate for the government to contract out public policy development to a third party -- in particular, a third party which has an interest in the outcome.  We are still awaiting a response from the MOHLTC around this issue.