Family members worried as strike continues at GTA care home

Family members of people living in a Toronto-area group home say they are worried for their loved ones' well-being as the home's management is providing limited information.

Family members of people living in a Greater Toronto Area group home say they are worried for their loved ones’ well-being as the home’s management is providing limited information as to how their loved ones will be cared for after support workers walked off the job earlier this week.

Support staff at Central West Specialized Development Services — a provincially funded supportive living community for adults with developmental disabilities — walked off the job on Wednesday evening more than 40 days after CWSDS management requested a no-board report from Ontario’s Ministry of Labour.

The workers, who are represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 249, have been replaced in the meantime by third-party agency staff who will care for residents while the strike is ongoing.

Julie Geiss, president of the local, says union members are looking for better wages, mental health supports and better working conditions in a new collective agreement. She says members have voted against two offers from the employer before going on strike Wednesday. Those offers featured very little changes, and Geiss said workers felt the employer was using intimidation and bullying tactics to push a new agreement through.

In an emailed statement, CWSDS CEO Patricia Kyle wrote that she “categorically rejects” allegations of intimidation or bullying. She said CWSDS — which offered employees an average wage increase of 6.5 per cent and expanded mental health benefits — has acted in good faith throughout negotiations and “remains committed to reaching a competitive and sustainable agreement.”

She also said the home’s “top priority is the safety and well-being” of those in CWSDS’ care while the strike continues.

But Rabia Khedr, whose brother Shah Khan lives in the main CWSDS facility, says she has a number of “unanswered questions” about the quality of care her brother will receive while his regular support staff are on the picket line and feels shut out by CWSDS management.

Khedr’s concerns about CWSDS began last month when the home’s management moved residents from group homes in Burlington, Halton Hills, Mississauga and Oakville into the company’s main Oakville facility on Bond Street without consulting family members or getting consent in anticipation of a labour disruption. She says Shah, who is non-verbal and already lived in the main facility, suddenly got five new housemates who moved into repurposed activity rooms, making for what she described as an overcrowded and stressful environment.