Tired of Strikes? Wait, There’s One More Cooking
This time, it’s not just one, but two unionised public agencies—the Toronto Community Housing (TCHC) and the Toronto Seniors Housing (TSHC)—that are making their displeasure known in no uncertain terms.
According to union records, TCHC serves one in 50 Torontonians, managing over 58,000 units in 2,100 buildings and nearly 105,000 tenants. Meanwhile, TSHC manages 83 seniors-designated buildings that are home to over 15,000 older adults across the city.
As of last week, both agencies voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike, with 98% of frontline workers from Community Housing and 94% from Senior Housing supporting an all-out strike. The union representing the workers, CUPE Local 79, announced today that it has also filed for a “no-board” report from the Ontario Minister of Labour. This report would trigger a 17-day countdown to a strike or local deadline.
What is a no-board report? In Toronto, this report indicates that negotiations between the union and the employer have stalled, initiating a 17-day period during which both parties can formally commence a legal work stoppage or lockout. However, during this time, both the union and the employer are required to continue bargaining in good faith.
What are the unions demanding? Workers from both unions have “repeatedly reported” dangerous working conditions, including offices without reinforced windows, non-functioning security cameras, faulty panic buttons, inadequate emergency responses, incidents of physical assault, threats, and harassment, as well as abnormally high workloads, with some employees pulling double shifts for weeks on end.
Union leaders who held a press briefing today pointed out that the excuse of insufficient funding for addressing infrastructural and staffing issues is simply incorrect. Instead, the funds allocated to the unions do not reach their intended departments, resulting in unresolved issues, particularly the demand for hiring more frontline workers.
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