Despite the cold days rolling by since the lockout at the Nipissing and Parry Sound Children’s Aid Society (CAS) since two days before Christmas, picketers are continuing to receive support, including from Nickel Belt MPP, France Gelinas, Temiskaming-Cochrane MPP John Vanthoff and CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn, who gathered Wednesday morning in the cold.
“I know when there is a labour dispute, it’s not easy,” Gelinas told the picketers, numbering nearly 100.
“It’s not easy on you, it’s not easy on your family and I know that you worry about all those kids you left behind that are in need of your protection.”
“We’re united with you and will support you as much as we can. We will put pressure on both sides to help you get back to the table and reach a settlement. You have our commitment that we will be there with you to support you.”
But for Gelinas, the biggest issue, is the decision the CAS made to hire temporary replacement workers, or what she referred to as ‘scabs,’ a short term solutions, she said, with major long term repercussions. For this, she criticized the CAS’s decision to lock out workers.
“I know they look in the short term and this is wrong,” Gelinas said.
“The CAS is an agency that exists to make our communities better; they exist to make our communities safer and healthier in the long run. Whenever scabs are used, they leave deep wounds behind that take generations to heal, they leave damage to people, to families and to communities. This is a shame that they cannot see that their actions in the short term they think is looking out for the kinds, but in the long term they are making damages.”
During the rally, Debbie Hill President of CUPE Local 2049 called out CAS Executive Director Gisele Hebert for presenting media with misinformation and questioned where statistics quoting the local CAS as having the highest Provincial sick leave use.
However, However, Hebert said sick leave has been a critical issue for the organization, with numbers will above the Provincial average, costing them hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars.
“It’s the issue of sick leave,” she said. “Our staff are ranked first in the Province for sick leave. Our staff have 80 days of sick leave per year and whether it’s abuse or not, it has cost us $389,000.”
Hebert said these statistics have been complied through internal human resources as well as by the Province. According to their document, frontline staff have taken an average of just over 14 sick days in 2015, while support staff took over 20. Comparatively, the Provincial average sits at approximately 10 days for frontline and support staff respectively.
However, the numbers reflect that $321,829 of the amount stems from only 24 percent of staff, while the remaining 76 percent have used less than 10 sick days, costing only $67,594 to compensate for their absence.
Hebert also said for the CAS, workloads, another issue brought up by Hill, weren’t nearly as severe as they were made to be by picketers. According to documents, workloads have in fact been dipping lower since 2012, with the number of ongoing cases dropping by 36 percent.
For Hill, the real pain came from worrying that the individuals she had been working with in cases throughout her 15 years at the CAS—children she said she had worked with for most of her years there—were now being serviced by individuals who weren’t nearly as familiar with them as she.
“It causes me great concern to think about how they will manage their needs,” she said.
And while Hebert believes, temporary replacement issues or not, labour issues will always carry negative effects on the individuals serviced by the CAS, she said all measures would be taken to protect the families.
Gelinas told workers Wednesday that she would support them as much as possible, but couldn't make any promises on the agreement, but would certainly put the pressure on both sides to return to the bargaining table.
"We’re united with you and will support you as much as we can," she said. "We will put pressure on both sides to help you get back to the table and reach a settlement. You have our commitment that we will be there with you to support you."
