OTTAWA,
ON, July 4, 2024 /CNW/ - Unsustainable work
conditions, shrinking resources, and empty promises of better times
to come: the story coming from child protection workers in the
Ottawa region is stamped with
urgency. Now, after nine months of bargaining, over 320 Children's
Aid Society of Ottawa (CASO)
workers are fast approaching a strike deadline. Unless a tentative
deal is reached by 12:01 a.m. on
July 6th, 2024, these
members of OPSEU/SEFPO Local 454 will be out on strike and picket
lines going up the morning of July
8th.
"We've been sounding the alarm on deteriorating conditions for
years, as worksite after worksite closed before our eyes." said
Michele Thorn, President
of OPSEU/SEFPO Local 454. "Workers are going above and beyond
their job descriptions to fill the gaps left by a government which
neglects to fund other community agencies just as it neglects us –
and still, kids are slipping through those gaps at alarming
rates."
"We're concerned about the impacts of a full shut down, but the
current conditions are untenable," added Thorn. "It's not safe for
the children, youth, and families that we're supporting when
workers are spread this thin."
OPSEU/SEFPO Local 454 represents front line child protection
workers, child and youth counsellors, administrative support and IT
support workers, and direct service staff including placement
office, telephone intake, and foster care, adoption, and kin
workers at the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa. The union and employer had one last
scheduled conciliation date this past Tuesday, but talks broke down
after it became clear that progress on key issues, including
protections against mass layoffs as well as long-awaited
improvements to wages, was not on the table.
The union says that the agency must prioritize fulfilling its
mandate to ensure the "safety and wellbeing of children and youth"
and resist further incursions on resources available to families
and communities. With the Ford government failing to act, that work
must start at the bargaining table.
"The Employer has communicated imminent mass layoffs that we
can't afford – and neither can the families we support," said
Thorn. "We're already struggling with high rates of burnout as we
try to keep pace with increasingly complex cases amidst dwindling
resources. Layoffs will have disastrous consequences for workload
and only make it harder for staff to keep families together."
Like many agencies across the sector, CAS Ottawa is struggling
with a recruitment and retention crisis caused by low wages, which
is putting an even greater strain on the remaining workers as
staffing levels become more dire.
The rising cost of living has workers feeling the economic
crunch, too, says Thorn. "Last bargaining round, our hands and our
wages were severely tied by Bill 124. The employer promised they'd
help us 'catch up' next time – it's always next time, but we're
struggling now. This work isn't getting any easier and we need to
be resourced to meet the challenges head on."
"We're tired of signaling the magnitude of the crisis in CAS,
and feeling like there's no audience for that distress," added
Thorn. "If the province isn't paying attention – or is choosing to
look away – we're ready to take this fight public and to the picket
line."
"Kids deserve better than lip service," said JP Hornick,
President of OPSEU/SEFPO. "If Ford truly cared about children, his
government wouldn't keep putting the most vulnerable kids in our
communities at risk – hundreds in Ottawa region, thousands across the province –
by continuing to underfund Children's Aid Societies."
SOURCE Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/SEFPO)