In May 2011, the government announced through the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (MOHLTC) that they were going to establish a Personal Support Worker Registry.  Since that time, CUPE Ontario and the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) have been working together to address the serious issues that such a registry will create for our members.

The government has said that the PSW Registry will be a mandatory registry that at a minimum will be a list of names of all workers who are PSWs that are employed by publicly funded employers.  This will include all of our employers who receive funding from the MOHLTC.   The government 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(HCAs).  We have been told that the Registry will be in place starting for the Homecare sector in August 2012, following this Long Term Care in 2013 and finally Hospitals in 2014.

CUPE Ontario and OCHU have taken steps to provide information and find out from our members, front line PSWs, HCAs and health care locals the issues and concerns about the registry through meetings, presentations, facts sheets and conference calls.  This past December, we held a Town Hall Conference Call with hundreds of CUPE members to find out more information from members about the impact of this registry and to provide the following updates:
 

• Established a CUPE PSW Registry Working Group with representation from PSWs/HCAs from all health care sectors (home care, hospitals, long term care, retirement homes, supportive housing) to work on this issue
• Legal Opinion from Sack Goldblatt Mitchell on the Issue of Privacy which advised us the proposed plans for the Registry thus far do not violate any privacy laws or legislation
   

The PSW Registry is currently in the process of being set up by an employer led group, the Ontario Community Support Association, who has created the PSW Registry Steering Committee for this purpose.   CUPE was originally not part of this committee, but we have been successful in obtaining a seat to ensure we can directly bring forward the issues and concerns for our members in that process.  This committee meets monthly and reviews recommendations on the development of the registry in regard to issues such as grandparenting, eligibility and privacy. 
 

We will continue to provide information and updates to members about the Registry, support the CUPE PSW Working Group and advocate for the rights and privacy of PSWs/HCAs at the PSW Registry Steering Committee.  If you want further information about the PSW Registry or would like to have a representative from CUPE Ontario attend a meeting to speak about the PSW Registry, please contact us at info@cupe.on.ca