Unanimous strike vote at Yorktown Family Services reveals problems in City’s safety net for families and children

TORONTO – Prevention is better than cure and community-based mental health supports are meant to help before families break down. Workers at Yorktown Family Services – members of the Toronto Civic Employees’ Union, CUPE Local 416 voted unanimously in favour of a strike vote yesterday. This vote by workers at Yorktown Family Services reveals a…

Presented with solutions to child protection crisis, Ford Conservatives insist on status quo

TORONTO – A week after a new survey revealed the number of child protection agencies warehousing children and youth in unsafe, unlicensed homes across the province, the Ontario New Democratic Party (ONDP) offered a legislative solution. The Conservatives rejected it. Bill 188, branded the Supporting Children’s Futures Act, contained updates to the Child, Youth, and…

Most abused yet lowest paid: developmental service workers at Bethesda Community Services have had enough

St. Catharines, ON – There’s a little-known secret among organizations that support adults with developmental disabilities: not all clients are the same and agencies routinely shop their most challenging clients around. Bethesda Community Services is known in the sector for taking the absolute hardest cases. Staff are routinely abused and harassed. Yet they have some…

We can’t wait – CUPE Paramedics offer solutions to MPPs on how to fix ambulance services

TORONTO – CUPE Paramedics met with MPPs at Queen’s Park today to bring attention to the ongoing underfunding of emergency medical services in Ontario. “Shortages of ambulances and staff, lack of hospital capacity, and heavy workloads are all things our members face on a daily basis, and underfunding from the provincial government is continuing to…

Privatization of cleaning and other support services will increase threat of superbug infections, cautions CUPE at rally outside Etobicoke General Hospital

Union protests hospital’s plan to contract out cleaning, portering, waste management, and laundry services TORONTO – Back in 2006, an outbreak of superbug C. difficile at a Sault Ste. Marie Hospital killed 10 patients directly and another 8 indirectly. The hospital, which had privatized housekeeping services, was forced to increase cleaning staff by 40 per…