Support workers with OPSEU Local 249, working at Central West Specialized Development Services (CWSDS) in Oakville, Ontario, are in their twelfth week of a strike. The workplace is a provincially funded and operated home for adults with developmental disabilities.
On February 3, the workers held a public rally for support. While they strike through the most bitterly cold days of the polar vortex, scab contract workers are inside with as little as one week of training to care for the region’s most vulnerable.
Since the strike, the CBC has reported an attack by one resident against another, as well as two deaths of residents. Jan Beddoe, whose son Christopher was attacked, told the CBC, “This was a specific incident where the client who requires eyes on them at all times, one-to-one, was not being supported. He was not protected from harming someone else.”
Workers on the line are shaken and disturbed that their CEO and the Ontario government have continued to refuse to negotiate in earnest to end the strike, despite the clear issues with care in the facility with non-union agency workers.
Many patients at the facility do not have family to visit and be with them. One worker on the line explained how hard this is for them:
“This is what hurts people. We don’t get to say goodbye and the individuals aren’t around anybody they know. Some of these individuals have lived here for 35-38 years. There’s a relationship there. Those who passed were some of our longest standing residents.”
CWSDS workers are not asking for unreasonable demands. They are asking for a raise that keeps up with inflation. Many OPSEU Local 249 members have to work multiple jobs to maintain a decent quality of life. No wage increases were seen on the last contract. They have not seen a raise since 2020, when the Ministry of Health rolled out a province-wide $3 wage increase for essential workers supporting community care programs. They currently make slightly over living wage for the GTA, though below industry standard, even with decades of experience. Comparable workers elsewhere make 5 dollars more an hour. With this strike, the workers are showing that they are done accepting this contempt from the government and their employer and are fighting back.
The employer believes they are being generous with their offer of a 1.38 percent wage increase per year for six years. This is below inflation and means workers would be accepting less and less every year for their labour.
Workers are the care at these facilities
CWSDS CEO Patricia Kyle gave herself a 9.99 percent raise this year and spent $3 million in consulting fees. Meanwhile, she expects those who actually do the care to accept a worse and worse life, and sell their labour to her for depreciating value.
The contempt this shows for the people in our community who need care the most is deplorable. Ontario and Canada at large have used the exploitation of workers of colour to cover the shortfalls in funding of healthcare (for example, prioritizing caretaker and nurse work visas while ending citizenship pathways). OPSEU Local 249 includes many workers of colour.
Local 249 Vice President Vanessa Edwards spoke with us and reminded us how fast those working at the LCBO were brought back to the table for a deal, while the province allows the care of vulnerable people to decline to the point of death.
“We take our jobs seriously and in some cases we’re the only family our individuals have. A lot of them are older, their parents or caregivers have passed,” Edwards told Spring.
Multiple jurisdictions have moved to create anti-scab legislation due to union and worker demands. Ontario has ignored this call.
Support these workers by heading to the picket line yourself at 53 Bond Street in Oakville and by calling or emailing your local MPP, Premier Doug Ford, and the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Living to demand a fair deal for OPSEU Local 249.
“Call your MPP and say, ‘Hey, what’s going on in the Oakville situation, why are you guys not stepping up?’” Edwards suggested when asked what people could do to support their struggle. Those who rely on care at CWSDS and those who provide it need our solidarity to win a better deal and better healthcare conditions for all.
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