Employees at the Nipissing branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) have voted overwhelming to join the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU).
“Welcome to the family,” said OPSEU President, Warren (Smokey) Thomas. “The staff in Nipissing, like most public sector workers in Ontario, realize what a threat the Ford government is. By putting their confidence in OPSEU they know the smart play is to be represented by a strong union with a proven track record in making governments listen.”
In the Nipissing branch of CMHA there are over 50 front line staff who provide important community mental health and addiction services based out of four locations across the City of North Bay and the Municipality of Powassan. In January of 2020, the agency will amalgamate with the Nipissing Mental Health Housing and Support Services in a planned integration of service providers.
“We welcome CMHA Nipissing to our growing family of Community Mental Health and Addictions providers,” said Ed Arvelin, Chair of OPSEU’s Mental Health Division. “With this current government’s lack of funding for mental health and addictions services, more frontline service providers are seeing the work being done by our division and want to join us in pushing back.”