On behalf of more than 300,000 CUPE members in Ontario, we are proud to pay tribute to our comrades in OPSEU-SEFPO, community and social services workers who are on strike or locked out over the fight for fair wages and properly funded community services.
To all those involved in this job action, we extend our steadfast support and solidarity. And we assure you: your fight is our fight. We have been honoured to campaign with you on Worth Fighting For, not just in defense of the right to decent pay, but for the future of the critical services that our communities depend on.
No one can empathize with your struggle more than the tens of thousands of CUPE Ontario members who also work in community and social services. They have also witnessed firsthand the devastating impact of chronic underfunding: endless wait lists; reduced services; employers’ inability to recruit and retain staff; and workers at the breaking point from overwork, burnout and simply trying to make ends meet.
The current crisis in Ontario’s community and social services represents a moral failure by the Ford Conservatives. The job action across this sector is a powerful way of holding them accountable for the crisis they have created.
Your jobs – as social workers, child therapists, addictions counsellors, shelter workers, and many more vital jobs – are crucial parts of Ontario’s safety net for those in greatest need. Yet you – the people who deliver the services – remain among the lowest-paid workers in the public sector, thanks in large part to Doug Ford’s unconstitutional Bill 124.
You are still waiting for the compensation you are owed from having been denied your right to free collective bargaining under Bill 124. Yet somehow, there’s always money for projects like an expanded waterfront airport in Toronto or a tunnel under the 401.
As CUPE Ontario has said before, the Ford Conservatives cannot continue to pick winners and losers among workers. As community and social service workers, you carry a crumbling system on your backs. You continue to do your jobs under near-impossible conditions because you care deeply about the people you support.
For this reason, we honour your courage and commitment and support you in your job action. We will be pleased to make a donation to the OPSEU-SEFPO’s strike fund and we will make it behalf of all CUPE Ontario members. Because your fight is ultimately about stability for vulnerable people who rely on the services you provide, and about fair and decent wages for the people who provide them.
You have our solidarity now and always.
