PETERBOROUGH, ON, July 18,
2024 /CNW/ - On Thursday July
4th, workers at the Kawartha-Haliburton
Children's Aid Society – members of OPSEU/SEFPO Local 334 – were
advised of significant cuts being made to staff, with a deficit
management plan being implemented for the next three years. The
layoffs will impact 21 full-time staff members in critical roles
and will reduce the workforce by 20%. The deficit management plan
is due to a provincial failure to provide the Kawartha Haliburton
Children's Aid Society with adequate resources to face increasing
challenges in Peterborough,
Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton area
– and this failure will leave vulnerable children at serious
risk.
"We will continue to see an increase in the deaths of children,
like we heard about a few weeks ago in Kingston when child protection is not allotted
sufficient money to adequately protect children," said Ruby Taylor, President of OPSEU/SEFPO Local 334
and child protection worker.
Kawartha-Haliburton CAS cuts will be felt by workers across the
organization that are integral to protecting children and ensuring
the organization runs efficiently.
"The cuts proposed will jeopardize the safety and well-being of
the children in our communities, and we firmly believe that
injuries and deaths will result. They will not be from "poor
clinical decisions", but rather from short-staffing and
unmanageable workloads. "Without adequate resources, it is becoming
increasingly difficult to keep children and youth safe," says
Taylor.
The systemic underfunding of social services is not isolated to
the child welfare sector, the entire public service sector has been
deeply under resourced. The needs in our communities, and across
Ontario, have been on the rise
with increases in substance use, unprecedented mental health
concerns, the skyrocketing cost of living, an extreme housing
shortage and excessive wait times for services.
The members of OPSEU/SEFPO Local 334 are calling on the Ford
government to fix the funding shortage now with an email campaign
targeting Premier Ford and the Minister of Children, Community and
Social Services, Michael Parsa. They
will also be doing community outreach and will be handing out
flyers at the Peterborough Farmer's Market this weekend.
Background:
- The union has repeatedly reached out to the Minister, Premier
and local MPPs with little to no response.
- The local has 110 members, 21 layoffs are expected to be
completed by March 31, 2025.
SOURCE Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/SEFPO)