CUPE Ontario is proud to support the community and social services workers of OPSEU/SEFPO, who are on strike and locked out because they are fighting for properly funded social and community services and wages that were stolen from them under Bill 124.
To all those involved in this job action, we extend our steadfast solidarity.
Because we have worked alongside OPSEU/SEFPO in the Worth Fighting For campaign, we know that OPSEU/SEFPO members’ fight is also our fight. That’s why local delegates and union leaders at CUPE Ontario’s convention last week resolved that CUPE will support all CUPE members who refuse to cross OPSEU/SEFPO picket lines – just as OPSEU/SEFPO did when its members refused to cross CUPE education workers’ picket lines in 2022. Convention delegates also joined OPSEU/SEFPO members at their picket lines throughout the week.
CUPE Ontario will also make a contribution of $10,000 to the OPSEU/SEFPO’s strike fund.
For years, community and social service workers across the province have been pushed to the breaking point by chronic underfunding, impossible workloads, staffing crises and low wages. While workers struggle to keep vital services running, the Ford Conservatives continue to starve the community and social service sector of the funding needed to support the people who rely on these services every day.
The Ford Conservatives’ Bill 124 suppressed public sector workers’ wages and robbed frontline workers of fair wage increases during a period of skyrocketing inflation and unprecedented workplace pressures. Even after the courts struck down Bill 124 as unconstitutional, community and social service workers have still not received the money that is owed them as remedy for denying them their right to free collective bargaining.
That’s why striking and locked-out OPSEU/SEFPO community and social service workers have the support and solidarity of CUPE Ontario and the members we represent across the province.
Workers in social services deserve more than praise and empty words. They deserve fair wages, safe staffing levels, respect on the job, and real investments in the public and community services Ontarians depend on.
OPSEU/SEFPO workers are showing Doug Ford’s government that a fair deal and properly funded services are worth fighting for and CUPE Ontario is proud to support them.
