Dear sir,
I am a member of CUPE Local #65, which presently is on strike against the Fort Frances and District Association for Community Living.
Striking was not an action that our membership considered lightly because being on strike has serious consequences for our families, the people we serve, and the programs and businesses our employer operates.
However, our negotiating situation became such that 100 percent of our members who voted supported strike action when an agreement could not be reached.
I do not wish to debate the issues we have with our employer in this forum–except for this one. Our executive director recently was quoted in the media as saying “everything is going along fine” (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal, May 27, 2001). As you may have guessed by now, I would emphatically disagree.
I do not think everything is fine for the people we normally serve–or their families.
Many have been moved from their own homes, shuffled to continuing care at the hospital, sent to stay with family members, or left to their own devices because they do not meet the criteria of “support services to clients which have been determined to be essential” (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal, May 27, 2001).
Still others are not working their jobs or receiving necessary supports.
Ten non-unionized employees (many of whom have never been front-line workers), cannot and do not provide the same level of care and support as the educated, trained, and experienced care-givers in our membership.
We believe strongly that a fair and equitable collective agreement is the key to attracting and retaining qualified people that can provide consistent and effective support services to some of the most wonderful but vulnerable people of this community (a community that has been so incredibly supportive of us in so many ways–thank you so much).
No, things are not “status quo” (F.F. Times, May 30, 2001), and our members would very much prefer to be working at the professions we chose with the people who need our skills and caring.
For more information about this, please contact the CUPE office at 274-7411.
Sincerely,
Randy Ryan
Fort Frances, Ont.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
