As they near the end of week three on strike at Central West Specialized Developmental Services (CWSDS), workers from OPSEU/SEFPO released an open letter to the Board of Directors calling for accountability and action to end the strike.
“As a member of the CWSDS Board of Directors, you share responsibility for the decisions that have jeopardized the safety and wellbeing of the vulnerable people CWSDS supports. In this role, you are also responsible for creating a toxic work environment and the subsequent breakdown of trust between workers and leadership and the breakdown of trust from families,” reads the letter.
The letter outlines serious actions of management including: forcibly relocating individuals from their group homes – without the consent of their families – to a crowded, centralized facility where residents are unable to access the support they need; hiring contracted agency workers without the same skills and knowledge; suspending multiple staff; altering break times, and implementing schedule changes that will mean some workers could not continue to work at CWSDS.
“Our members were left with little choice but to strike,” shared Julie Geiss, President of OPSEU/SEFPO Local 249. “We want to get back to work. Our members care about the people they support, and they want to get back to providing care and helping people thrive. Management’s actions pushed workers – and the people they support – to the brink. Nothing about this was responsible, and we need action to get people home immediately and ensure safe conditions for everyone.”
The letter also highlights management’s questionable financial priorities, noting that CWSDS’s CEO Patricia Kyle received a 10% wage increase in 2024, and how spending on “consulting and professional fees” increased six-fold to $3 million in 2024.
“The top priority for management at Central West Specialized Developmental Services must be ensuring that residents receive the highest quality of care and support,” said JP Hornick, OPSEU/SEFPO President. “That quality of care is only possible when qualified staff providing frontline support are respected, fairly compensated and have decent working conditions.”
Across Ontario, development services organizations have long waitlists and acute staff shortages while low wages and a cost-of-living crisis push many workers into poverty. “In the middle of this sector-wide crisis exposed in the latest Ombudsman report, the bare minimum that CWSDS management can do is advocate for adequate funding, provide living wages and retain its skilled workforce to meet the needs of the community,” added Hornick.