Skip to content

Home
About
News
Bargaining
Contact us

Home
About
News
Bargaining
Contact us

Member's Portal

Search

Member's Portal

Home
About
News
Bargaining
Contact us

Home
About
News
Bargaining
Contact us

Search

Bargaining

Connect with Local 79

34 St Patrick St,
Toronto, ON M5T 1V1

Phone

Fax

416 977-9546

Open in Google Maps

Toronto Public Health is losing nurses faster than it can replace them. That’s because they are paid 20% less than workers in neighbouring cities and are carrying caseloads that are more demanding and complex.

If preventative public health breaks down, the costs show up later in emergency rooms, in outbreaks, and in communities left without support.

On July 13, 2026, public health nurses came to the Board of Health to depute about the retention crisis and the pay inequity they face every day. Instead of listening with solutions in mind, Councillor Michael Thompson (@councillor_thompson) — who sits on that Board — used his time to repeatedly ask a nurse what makes her happy at work, and then summarized her answer as “so it’s about the money.” He did this while the official record shows he voted to give himself a 24.03% wage increase in 2025.

Is this really the type of person we want sitting on a body as important as the Board of Health?

In 2026, Toronto elects a new City Council. Let’s ensure we choose wisely.

CUPE Local 79 stands with the WestJet flight attendants of CUPE 8125 @westjetcomponent as they strike to be paid for the work they do, including the ground duties airlines have long treated as free labour. Last year, the federal government invoked Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to force @aircanada @aircanadacomponent flight attendants back to work, an intervention that did not resolve the dispute but instead stripped workers of the leverage they needed to bargain fairly.

Air Canada flight attendants bravely defied that order last year and stayed on the picket line until the airline came back to the table, a reminder that workers will not stand for their right to strike being taken away.

We urge Prime Minister @markjcarney not to repeat that mistake with @westjet flight attendants. Section 107 should not be a tool to weaken the bargaining position of workers in this country.

To our fellow @cupe_scfp members, your fight is our fight and we stand with you.

Toronto woke up today to the worst air quality in the world, and the City responded by bringing outdoor workers inside and shifting outdoor summer camps indoors. While outdoor aquatics workers were initially left working, the City has since made the right decision to halt outdoor pool operations.

Outdoor pools are a vital public resource in a heat emergency, but keeping them open cannot mean treating the workers who staff them as exempt from a hazard the City itself has acknowledged. Aquatics workers care deeply about the service they provide, and closures carry real costs for them too, including lost wages — protecting their safety is what allows them to keep delivering that service. We support the City’s decision and appreciate the collaborative work to keep both workers and residents safe.

Our thought are with the communities being impacted by the wildfires which continue to wreak havoc on communities across the country and we call on governments to acknowledge the climate crisis and take all measures to address the crisis and protect our communities and the environment.

Local 79 Public Health Nurses showed up at the Toronto Board of Health yesterday, wearing Public Health Pay Equity Matters t-shirts to demand what their work is worth. President Nas Yadollahi joined them to make the case directly to the Board: a workforce succession plan means nothing if it doesn’t address pay, and Toronto can’t keep asking its Public Health Nurses to do complex, high-stakes work without paying them what it takes to keep them.

On Thursday, June 25, Local 79 healthcare workers joined Marit Stiles, Leader of the Official Opposition (NDP), alongside fellow healthcare workers in Scarborough, for a roundtable on the state of healthcare in Toronto. The conversation centred on what it actually means to be a healthcare worker right now and the strain of staffing shortages in long-term care and hospitals.

Rather than leaving it to others to describe their working conditions, members spoke directly with the Opposition Leader about what they face on the job every day. Most Local 79 healthcare workers are funded and mandated by the Province, which is part of why being in that room mattered: funding models for healthcare are often complex, and advocating for change means engaging at every level of government, including provincial leadership. We thank the Opposition Leader for listening.

Toronto Public Health is losing nurses faster than it can replace them. That’s because they are paid 20% less than workers in neighbouring cities and are carrying caseloads that are more demanding and complex.

If preventative public health breaks down, the costs show up later in emergency rooms, in outbreaks, and in communities left without support.

On July 13, 2026, public health nurses came to the Board of Health to depute about the retention crisis and the pay inequity they face every day. Instead of listening with solutions in mind, Councillor Michael Thompson (@councillor_thompson) — who sits on that Board — used his time to repeatedly ask a nurse what makes her happy at work, and then summarized her answer as “so it’s about the money.” He did this while the official record shows he voted to give himself a 24.03% wage increase in 2025.

Is this really the type of person we want sitting on a body as important as the Board of Health?

In 2026, Toronto elects a new City Council. Let’s ensure we choose wisely.

CUPE Local 79 stands with the WestJet flight attendants of CUPE 8125 @westjetcomponent as they strike to be paid for the work they do, including the ground duties airlines have long treated as free labour. Last year, the federal government invoked Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to force @aircanada @aircanadacomponent flight attendants back to work, an intervention that did not resolve the dispute but instead stripped workers of the leverage they needed to bargain fairly.

Air Canada flight attendants bravely defied that order last year and stayed on the picket line until the airline came back to the table, a reminder that workers will not stand for their right to strike being taken away.

We urge Prime Minister @markjcarney not to repeat that mistake with @westjet flight attendants. Section 107 should not be a tool to weaken the bargaining position of workers in this country.

To our fellow @cupe_scfp members, your fight is our fight and we stand with you.

Toronto woke up today to the worst air quality in the world, and the City responded by bringing outdoor workers inside and shifting outdoor summer camps indoors. While outdoor aquatics workers were initially left working, the City has since made the right decision to halt outdoor pool operations.

Outdoor pools are a vital public resource in a heat emergency, but keeping them open cannot mean treating the workers who staff them as exempt from a hazard the City itself has acknowledged. Aquatics workers care deeply about the service they provide, and closures carry real costs for them too, including lost wages — protecting their safety is what allows them to keep delivering that service. We support the City’s decision and appreciate the collaborative work to keep both workers and residents safe.

Our thought are with the communities being impacted by the wildfires which continue to wreak havoc on communities across the country and we call on governments to acknowledge the climate crisis and take all measures to address the crisis and protect our communities and the environment.

CUPE Local 79

Keeping Toronto at its best is what gets us up every morning. The work is worth it. And so are we.

Quick links

Home
News
Who we are
What we do
- Donations and Sponsorships

Home
News
Who we are
What we do
- Donations and Sponsorships

Connect with us

Facebook-f X-twitter Instagram Youtube

416 977-1629

local79@cupelocal79.org

© CUPE Local 79