BURNABY— CUPE’s community social services workers in B.C. have an opportunity to help their union make the case for better funding for the services they provide and more respect for the important work they do.
Over the past year, CUPE has worked as part of a multi-union campaign – communitysocialservicesmatter.ca – to highlight things like inadequate government funding, growing waitlists for services, and retention and recruitment challenges throughout the sector.
As part of the campaign, unions commissioned a report from the Social Planning and Research Council (SPARC) that looks at recruitment and retention issues for the community social services sector. The report, which drew on the experience of employers in unionized workplaces, confirms many of the issues that CUPE members have raised.
The next phase is for each union to survey its members – and CUPE is pleased to launch our survey for community social services workers. Cheryl Colborne, CUPE’s CSS sector coordinator, strongly encourages members to participate. “We are very pleased to be launching the survey. This kind of direct information from members is one of the most important tools that we have to improve the quality of services and the working conditions of CUPE members,” says Colborne.
Members can participate by filling in the survey online or you can download a copy.
More information is available from CUPE National research representative, rscher@cupe.ca