Open the Books! Stop Stonewalling! Support OPSEU!
By Julius Arscott and Barry Weisleder
Socialist Action members in Toronto have been walking with Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/SEFPO Local 540) picketers at Sistering, a community center. The strikers are among 4,000 social workers engaged in an unprecedented sectoral strike at 24 sites, across many agencies and employers in community, health and social services throughout Ontario -- for six weeks so far.
The strikers demand funding to ensure the continuation of the care and support they provide to many of the most vulnerable people in the community, along with a pay increase denied to the workers due to Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s unconstitutional Bill 124 over the past two years. Wait lists are growing and people are falling through the cracks. Many of the workers involved in the strike provide essential services to people with disabilities, children and youth in crisis, people experiencing homelessness, women fleeing violence, and individuals with mental health and addiction challenges.
J.P Hornick, president of OPSEU/SEFPO, stated “Ford needs to stop passing the buck by suggesting this dispute is between managers and union members. Employers are telling us clearly that funding is not there – with some even signing joint letters calling on urgent funding to end the strike. Compared to the billions of dollars flowing through private companies instead of going to the front lines, doing what’s right to make these workers whole amounts to pocket change.”
A report from OPSEU shows the province has funneled more than $1 billion through three private corporations administering public programs currently operating with limited transparency. Data from the Financial Accountability Office shows that funding for social services is not keeping up with demand and necessary service levels. There’s no money to address poverty-level wages, staffing shortages and deteriorating services. But there’s plenty of cash for well-connected corporations.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives reports that the outcome of low and falling wages is that a large share of workers providing social and community services are living in poverty themselves. Women are grossly overrepresented in this work. They make up 87 per cent of Ontario’s social service workforce, one-third of whom are racialized.
OPSEU’s ‘Worth Fighting For” campaign is calling on the government to stop the service cuts and lay-offs—and to provide adequate and stable funding to the agencies and workers holding communities together. “Essential social services cannot operate on low wages, goodwill and a smile.”
In a powerful show of solidarity, more than 850 striking workers descended on the annual “Ford Fest” at a park in Scarborough on June 25, to send a clear message to Premier Ford: Do the right thing: fund our services, deliver stolen wages, and end the strike!
When Ford looked out from his stage, he was met by a sea of striking workers in purple shirts who turned their backs on him in a spontaneous and symbolic act of protest. Fed up with being ignored by this government, members raised their voices calling for wage justice and funding for community and social services. The Premier swiftly left the stage and the event, citing security concerns.
Workers are uniting behind this historic strike to make their case. They’ve had enough. They deserve our fullest support.