Today, leaders representing OPSEU/SEFPO members in community and social services issued a notice to the Ford government, warning that without urgent action to address chronic underfunding and stolen wages from Bill 124, workers across Ontario will escalate coordinated actions.
This notice follows months of coordinated organizing in the Worth Fighting For campaign, which brings together workers across the community and social services sectors. Workers have put forward coordinated bargaining demands and advocated for increased funding to stabilize services and dedicated funding increases for wages.
The letter urges the Ford government to act now and puts the government on notice that workers are ready to take coordinated actions within the next 30 days, if necessary.
Read the full letter below.
April 23, 2026
Without government action, community and social service workers will take province-wide action within 30 days
Dear Premier Ford and Ministers,
We are writing to you as workers across the broader public service – workers in developmental services, child treatment, mental health and addictions, youth corrections, community agencies, community healthcare and other community health and social services. OPSEU/SEFPO members who are currently in bargaining are calling on you to address chronic underfunding in our sectors and deliver immediate funding increases.
Every day, we support children, families, and communities across Ontario. We provide autism services, residential supports for adults with developmental disabilities, community mental health and addiction services, shelter support, and many other critical frontline services for people with complex needs. We touch the lives of so many people across the province – both the people we support directly and their loved ones.
This is work our members care deeply about. However, underfunding is making it increasingly difficult to do our jobs while people languish on waitlists and fall through the cracks.
We are seeing the consequences of underfunding first-hand: long waitlists, soaring caseloads, growing demands, and critical staffing shortages. Workers are stretched thin, and services are at a breaking point. Many of our members are working second jobs, accessing services like food banks and grocery shopping at dollar stores to just make ends meet and feed our families. This crisis was made worse by Bill 124, which froze our wages at a time of skyrocketing inflation. While other workers – such as nurses and teachers – have been given retroactive wage increases since this legislation was repealed, tens of thousands of workers are still waiting.
Workers have come to your government asking for action – through bargaining, advocacy and community mobilization. We have been waiting years to see operational funding increases in the provincial budget, and action for the thousands of workers still waiting for Bill 124 remedy.
Premier Ford, we are calling on you to take action now. We are calling on your government to:
- Provide immediate, sustained funding increases to stabilize community health and social services
- Deliver fair, funded wage increases, including the 6.5% retroactive wage increase that other public-sector workers received after Bill 124 was repealed
Fair wages don’t just benefit workers. Fair wages stabilize the workforce, improve recruitment and retention, ensure continuity of care, and protect the quality of services that kids, families and communities rely on. These are essential investments in the wellbeing of people across Ontario.
To date, your government has maintained that wage increases since Bill 124 was ruled unconstitutional are a matter between unions and individual employers. But this argument is disingenuous: a majority of the funding for these critical agencies comes from your government. Employers have told us that dedicated funding for a Bill 124 remedy has not been provided to them. As a result, workers are advocating for a funded wage increase that protects our jobs and services into the future.
As you are aware, right now, thousands of OPSEU/SEFPO members are engaging in collective bargaining and have put forward demands of the Worth Fighting For campaign. Across the province, thousands of members are ready to escalate action, if necessary.
This letter serves as a notice and a call to action. We urge your government to take immediate action to improve funding and wages for our services. Without action from your government, bargaining units in the Worth Fighting For campaign are prepared to take coordinated actions within the next 30 days, if necessary.
Escalating job actions are not something our members take lightly. We want to be in our jobs, supporting the people of Ontario. But the stakes are too high for workers, for their families, for the people who rely on us. We have given the government multiple opportunities to act.
We urge you to come to the table and work with us to deliver funding for services and fairness for workers.
Sincerely,
JP Hornick, OPSEU/SEFPO President
Laurie Nancekivell, OPSEU/SEFPO First Vice-President and Treasurer
Ed Arvelin, Sector Chair, Mental Health and Addiction
Jackie Campbell, Sector Chair, Developmental Services
Kella Loschiavo, Sector Chair, Universities
Tannis McGinn, Sector Chair, Child Treatment
Jeff Tynes, Sector Chair, BPS – Corrections
Patricia Zonta, Sector Chair, Community Agencies