Beth McIlveen, a personal support worker and union chair at Finlandia's Finn Care assisted living facility, said she was out to support her colleagues who were still waiting for a wage increase.
While personal support workers at the nursing home have not had a pay increase in two years, those who work in assisted living are under a different contract, and received a recent increase of $1.50 an hour.
Before the increase, a personal support worker starting at Finn Care made $13.85 an hour, said McIlveen.
Mine Mill Local 598 president Anne-Marie MacInnis called for an end to government austerity measures.
“The workers need a raise.”
Corey Vermey, Unifor's director of health care, was in Sudbury to take part in the protest, which was one of several in Northern Ontario.
Vermey praised the province's announcement in April that it would increase wages for personal support workers that provide home care by $4 an hour over a two-year period.
But he said health-care workers in long-term care facilities, who typically make more than those providing home care, are also due for a pay increase.
“Our health-care workers need to be respected,” Vermey said. “They're not asking for huge raises.”
Vermey said personal support workers need to deal with increasingly demanding patients as the population ages and conditions like dementia become more commonplace.
In many cases, he said, long-term care facilities and nursing homes are understaffed, which hampers the care residents receive.
Vermey also reserved criticism for the federal government, which dismantled the Health Council of Canada in March.
The Health Council of Canada administered a national health accord that oversaw $41 billion in federal health transfers to the provinces and territories.
