BROCKVILLE, Ontario — Morale remains high on the picket line of provincial government workers in front of the Brockville and Area Community Living Association here, where members of Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 441 have been on strike since May 25.
They are some of the 4,500 unionists on strike across Ontario who work for Children, Community and Social Services. They’re seeking a retroactive 6.5% wage increase awarded to other provincial workers after Law 124 passed in 2019.
That law, which capped Ontario government workers’ annual wage increases at 1% for three years, was ruled unconstitutional in 2023. The judge said it violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by interfering with collective bargaining.
The court ruling came in the wake of the December 2022 victory of 55,000 Ontario school workers who successfully defied Bill 28, a law that declared their strike was illegal. But the ruling did not include this group of provincial workers.
Stopping massive government cuts to the funding of these services is another big issue in the strike. Children, Community and Social Services funding has been cut by $200 million since 2018. And in 2019, Legal Aid Ontario funding was cut by $133 million — or 30%.
“Residences get run-down and vehicles break down and we can’t repair them. This deterioration impacts people who live here as well as workers,” Rhea Sloat, a member of the union negotiating committee, told the Militant on the picket line July 22.
“Tomorrow we’re joining OPSEU members from Belleville for a ‘slow walk’ in Picton. When you’re 4,500 workers spread all across the province, it doesn’t look like much. But when we get together, we can see our strength,” said Christine Webb, a resident support worker for 20 years.
“We have to remain optimistic. I think that we’re just ramping up the campaign even more every week,” Jodie Rogers, a worker at Community Living London for 32 years, told the London Free Press July 14. “We’re here for the long run.”
Visit their picket lines to bring solidarity. Use the union picket line finder to join with them. Google “Picket finder — Worth Fighting For.”