Striking workers at Oakville care facility want residents home for the holidays

Vanessa Edwards works at Central West Specialized Developmental Services (CWSDS), a provincially funded supportive living community for adults with developmental disabilities. She works with many individuals to help them gain the skills to move to community supportive living homes managed by the organization.

Support staff at the Oakville care facility walked off the job last month, more than 40 days after CWSDS management requested a no-board report from Ontario’s Ministry of Labour. However, before the strike, management transferred residents from other homes back into the Oakville facility as a contingency plan.

“It doesn’t take long to unlearn skills,” said Edwards, who is also the vice-president of OPSEU Local 249. “And now were going to send them back into the community and start all over again, that is not fair to the individuals, it is not fair for the staff who have to go back and start all over again. That is what were afraid of.”

CWSDS says all members of its care team have the appropriate skills, training and qualifications to care for these individuals, including agency staff who’ve been brought in during the strike. The union disagrees.

“These people were moved out years ago, they were quite happy in their community participating and being supported, and because we want a fair wage, they were moved back here,” union president Julie Geiss tells CityNews.

“These people I would not leave with a rock, so I don’t understand how they’re leaving them with vulnerable individuals,” Geiss says.

Friday marked one month since workers walked off the job, and the union is now reaching out directly to the CWSDS Board of Directors, staging a picket outside the Hamilton office of Dr. Olivia Ng.

In a letter sent to the board, the union says in part, “Under the leadership of CEO Patricia Kyle, and the oversight of this Board, serious issues have put health and safety at risk.”

Kyle tells CityNews, “We have seen great resilience in those we support as they adapt to their temporary surroundings and continue to thrive.”

“Those with a developmental disability or those seen as less are always undervalued, and it goes right up to our government,” said Edwards. “Why are they not stepping in and saying, “Hey, what is this?”

In response, the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services says in a statement, “Collective bargaining is a matter between the employer and the unions that represent employees. The ministry requires agencies to develop a contingency plan,” adding the ministry conducts inspections to confirm compliance.

The union tells CityNews the Ministry of Labour has called all parties back to the bargaining table on Friday morning.