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Have your say on social services with Ontario’s online consultation tool
The SSWCC is encouraging CUPE members to speak up on important social services issues in the government’s online budget consultation. The new site lets us all share our priorities and the vision we have for public services in our province.
Go to https://talk.ontario.ca/home to give existing proposals your thumbs-up or thumbs-down (search by keywords); sign up to share your own proposal or comments; or send your own personal e-mail to the Premier.{more}
Government of Ontario policy on social services is drastically shifting. Restructuring, re-engineering and new delivery and funding models including new social entrepreneurship and social venture capital options will push services into hybrid-semi public-private partnership models.
CUPE Ontario’s Social Service Workers Coordinating Committee (SSWCC) represents over 30,000 social service workers in Ontario. SSWCC is working to stand up for publicly funded and accountable social services across Ontario communities.
Meet your Social Service Workers Coordinating Committee
SSWCC represents workers who deliver essential social services to Ontarians in five sectors:
- CAS – Children’s Aid Society
- Childcare
- Community Agencies
- DS – Developmental Services
- Municipal Social Services Workers
This sector also includes child protection, children’s mental health, shelters/hostels and WSIB workers.
The radical reforms being proposed at the highest levels of the provincial government include aspects of privatization that will have detrimental effects on service quality, service accessibility and on the workers’ working conditions and collective agreements across the social services sector.
The provincial government will be couching upcoming reforms as ‘sustaining public services’ even though they undermine the public, not-for-profit delivery of services.
As those who deliver the public services Ontarians need, CUPE members know that these reforms will erode government’s role in social services from protecting a public, universal model to one where government’s role is to set minimum service standards and control social service spending by limiting access through a shift to regionalized programs, delivered ad hoc by small under-resourced community agencies.
Get involved with SSWCC to work to confront these challenges through a number of campaign initiatives.
News:
Ontario Budget 2014 and its impact on Social Services
The 2014 Ontario Budget passed at legislature on July 24, 2014, and its impact on the social services sector will be considerable. While some money was set aside in some areas, others were completely ignored. Overall, this budget fails to address growing inequality that has resulted from decades of tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy and cuts to spending on social services. Please see the Fact Sheet below to get a complete analysis of the impact of the Ontario Budget on social services across the province.
FACT SHEET – Analysis of 2014 ON Budget on Social Services
FICHE D’INFORMATION – Analyse du Budget de l’ON 2014 sur les services sociaux
Pay Increases for Home and Community Care PSWs: CUPE/OCHU Answer Your Questions
Pay Increases for PSWs Working in Home and Community Agencies:
