Local children’s aid workers say they’re “fed up” and want their employer to return to the negotiating table as they reach week two on the picket line.
After contract negotiations beginning in November failed to address what their union calls a chronic lack of funding, workers with the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa (CASO) walked off the job July 8.
Child protection worker and strike captain Eric Schonbacher said there’s been no official dialogue between the two sides since before the strike began.
“We’re fed up. The fact that there is no return to the bargaining table is completely unacceptable. They’re playing games with children’s lives at this point,” he said.
“We’re ready to be here as long as needed. I think they’re trying to wait us out, and the morale is only going to get stronger.”
Striking workers say they have two main priorities when they eventually return to the negotiating table: securing pay increases that reflect the rising cost of living, and protection from layoffs.
Budget shortfall provincewide, OPSEU says
CASO has operated at a deficit of $3.3 million over the past two fiscal years.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), which represents Children’s Aid Society (CAS) workers across the province, has reported that 49 of Ontario’s 53 child welfare societies face an accumulated budget shortfall of $67 million, representing about 30 per cent of their operating costs.
The Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services reiterated in a statement on Tuesday that it had allocated $1.6 billion to 50 child welfare societies across Ontario.
“While labour negotiations are entirely a matter between the union and the Children’s Aid Society (CAS), independent organizations run by locally elected Board of Directors, it is our government’s expectation that business continuity plans are in place to ensure all mandated services continue to be provided to children, youth and families, uninterrupted,” the statement read.
The ministry said the 2024 budget allocates $36.5 million in additional funding for child welfare this year, as a base increase to ongoing funding.
The province funds children’s aid societies based partly on the number of children in their care, but CASO worker Naomi Partington said that way of determining funding punishes success.
“We’re kind of being penalized for doing this really good work,” she said. “We have less children in foster care now, so there’s less funding.”
Staffing shortages among key concerns
An increasing workload and decreasing staff levels are other issues the workers say need to be addressed.
“The workload that workers are experiencing today is significant. I myself have been with the agency for 16 years … and it’s the worst I’ve ever seen it,” said children’s aid worker Deborah Webber.
Schonbacher said the workers have learned their employer is considering 20 to 30 layoffs at CASO in the first year after an agreement is reached.
In a news release, CASO said while its office is closed, non-union workers continue to provide essential services.
Schonbacher said the pickets will move to different locations across the city including outside CASO’s office in Ottawa’s Pineview neighbourhood, the Ottawa Courthouse and a so-called “secret location” where replacement workers have been employed.
He urged other CAS workers across Ontario to stand with them in solidarity to achieve meaningful, provincewide change.
“This is a full-on attack on our sector,” Schonbacher said.