As a coordinated strike of nearly 4,000 community health and social services workers reaches the end of week eight, community support and solidarity continue to grow.
Recent op-eds in the Hamilton Spectator and the Toronto Star have shone a spotlight on the crisis in community, health and social services, and why this fight matters for workers, the people they support, and communities across Ontario.
TORONTO STAR: Sistering does good work – it’s staff need support, too by Elizabeth Renzetti
“If you drive or walk along Bloor Street near Ossington Avenue, you may have seen a group of people holding a strike action. They’ve been there since the end of May, in baking heat and humidity.
These are the unionized workers of Sistering, a drop-in centre that provides care and support for some of the most marginalized women and gender-diverse people in the city.
Their clients face homelessness, mental health and addiction challenges, and other complex needs. Sistering does amazing work, which is why I’ve supported them with donations for a few years.
But the staff of Sistering — the people who do the hard, hands-on work supporting vulnerable clients — have needs, too. Right now, they feel those needs are not being met.”
“One sign of a healthy society is that we look after the vulnerable — and also those who care for them. Right now, we’re failing that test.”
HAMILTON SPECATOR: Striking Workers Deserve Your Support by Margaret Shkimba
“There is a crisis in social services support in Ontario.
The workers who provide services to Ontario’s most vulnerable people — children and adults with developmental issues, children at risk in precarious living conditions, people seeking addiction treatment and women fleeing from dangerous relationships — have been out on strike since May 25.
At issue is the money owed to these workers from Bill 124, which capped salary increases for public sector workers to one per cent during a period of rampant inflation. The Ford government repealed the legislation in 2024 after the Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed the government’s appeal of an earlier court decision in favour of the workers.
While some in the public sector, such as teachers, nurses, hospital workers, public servants, college faculty and public health workers, have been compensated for lost wages, workers in other public service occupations have been left high and dry. These workers are some of the lowest-paid workers in the sector, the majority of them women, many of them working multiple jobs just to make ends meet.
Ford has washed his hands of the action by characterizing the dispute as one between the workers and their individual employers, who rely on funds from the government to pay their workers.
The government refuses to compensate the employers for the funds needed to backpay their workers.
This leaves organizations caught between a rock and a hard place: pay the workers and decrease services, or not pay the workers and penalize their employees for the government’s illegal legislation.
How is this justifiable? Would you stand for it if it were you?”
“Stand with the workers. We know it’s the right thing to do.
This is shameful and not who Ontarians are. We are much better than this. The Ford government has forgotten; it’s up to us to remind them.”