Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa, union heading to mediation as strike continues

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Determined to secure better wages and job protection, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union will head back to the bargaining table next week to continue talks with the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa.

Talks will resume on Monday with a mediator present.

Michele Thorn, an adoption worker, member of the bargaining committee and president of the union Local 454, said the parties resumed negotiations last weekend and continued until Tuesday, when talks broke down and the employer “walked away from the table.”

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One of the key issues for workers is the provincial government’s plan to cut an additional 20 employees from the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa’s current roster of 320. The organization, which is funded by the Government of Ontario and works to protect children experiencing abuse and provide families with assistance, once had more than 400 staff members.

“We have crucial work to do with the families and we can’t do it with losing any more workers,” Thorn said, adding that the union was looking for job protection for the life of the collective agreement. “We’re already bleeding workers.”

Negotiations began last November. In March, 85 per cent of unionized workers voted to strike, and they walked off the job on July 8.

Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles and other politicians, including NDP MPP for Ottawa Centre Joel Harden, visited the union’s picket line on Wednesday.

Kelly Raymond, executive director of the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa, said in an email that its non-union and management team continued to provide “critical child protection services,” prioritizing immediate child and youth safety issues.

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“Our primary objective is to ensure continuity of services,” Raymond said. “Since the strike began, we have met with the union and will continue to do so in order to work toward a resolution that benefits all parties involved. We are committed to working together to achieve our shared goals of sustainable child wellbeing.”

Thorn said the union was also looking to secure better wages for staff, adding that CASO had gone “backwards” during negotiations and was no longer offering full retroactive pay.

CASO’s most recent three-year contract offer, Thorn said, included wage increases of 4.0, 2.3 and 2.3 per cent. However, without retro pay, she said that deal wouldn’t even equal seven per cent overall.

Before the strike, Thorn said a deal with wage increases totalling 8.2 per cent was on the table. She said the union needed to be re-offered at that amount as they “didn’t go on strike to accept a worse offer financially.”

Thorn said the union had mediated talks with a provincially-appointed conciliator earlier this summer, but they weren’t productive. Some progress has been made over the past few days, she said, on issues that would be at no cost to the employer.

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“We’ve been accepting the erosion of staff and services for years because of underfunding, and it’s at a breaking point and so we can’t accept it anymore,” Thorn said, adding that government funding was based on the volume of children in care and had steadily decreased as CASO staff had done preventative work. “We’re expecting there will be more cuts if we don’t get that protection.”

Michael Demone, spokesperson for the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, said in an email that the government had invested more than $1.6 billion in 50 child welfare societies. This year, Demone said, it increased funding for child protection services by $14 million in addition to last year’s increase of $76.3 million.

Through the 2024 Ontario budget, Demone said, the child welfare sector will receive an increase of $36.5 million.

“This additional funding is a base increase and will be ongoing,” Demone said.

With files from Postmedia staff

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