Government under-funding to blame: CUPE
Citing increased workload demands, wages that are being eroded by inflation and chronic underfunding to services, workers at Catholic Children's Aid Society of Toronto voted on May 8 in favour of authorizing the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) to take strike action if a fair deal cannot be reached in the current round of contract negotiations.
Catholic Children's Aid Society Toronto (CCAS) is set to transition from having four locations across the city to a single east-end location — a move that the union believes will make service, including regular supervised access visits, unmanageable for many families, putting undue stress on the families that rely on CCAS services and the workers who deliver them, said the union.
“Imagine you live in the west end and the office you used to walk to every week has moved to Scarborough, and you don't have a car. This is the situation many of our families are going to find themselves in when the move takes place,” said Nancy Simone, president of CUPE, Local 2190, which represents 400 workers at CCAS. “Do we really want them spending an hour traveling to a child at risk?”
CCAS had its funding cut by $8.5 million in the last five years while worker caseload demands are increasing, said CUPE.
Along with the increased workload, wages at the Catholic Children's Aid Society are not keeping pace with inflation and are falling behind workers from the Children's Aid Society of Toronto, according to the union.
The two sides are scheduled to meet with a provincially appointed conciliator on May 10.
