Sudbury - Recently, the excessively high workloads and low wages of workers who provide care for the developmentally disabled have been the focus of studies by management consultants and academic researchers. Each of these independent studies has concluded that chronic government underfunding of associations for community living (ACLs) is resulting in significantly underpaid workers, high staff turnover rates and instability of service for people with developmental disabilities.
“These workers who provide care for the developmentally disabled have been sounding the alarm for years that adequate government funding is needed to ensure more staff are hired and those in the field are provided better training and better wages.
“Workers want to provide consistent, quality care to their vulnerable clients, but they’re struggling with excessive workloads and very low pay. They are asking the government to ’help us help’ the developmentally disabled,” says Sid Ryan the Ontario president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the union that represents the majority of developmental services workers province-wide.
Ryan will be joined by area developmental services workers and NDP MPP Shelley Martel for a media conference, in Sudbury, on Tuesday, February 18th at 1:00 p.m. at 790 Lasalle Boulevard (Montrose Mall) to highlight what the government must do to improve services for the developmentally disabled.
CUPE members in the ACL sector have launched a province-wide campaign for fair wages and provincial standards to address wage rates that vary widely from agency to agency.
Last week, developmental services workers in Guelph delivered a Valentine’s Day message to Community, Family and Children’s Services minister Brenda Elliott, asking that her government ’have a heart’ and help both developmental services workers and those in need of services and their families by increasing provincial funding for agencies.
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For more information please contact:
Sid Ryan, President CUPE Ontario
(416) 209-0066
Shelley Martel, MPP Nickel Belt
(705) 969-5072
Stella Yeadon, CUPE Communications
(416) 578-8774
“These workers who provide care for the developmentally disabled have been sounding the alarm for years that adequate government funding is needed to ensure more staff are hired and those in the field are provided better training and better wages.
“Workers want to provide consistent, quality care to their vulnerable clients, but they’re struggling with excessive workloads and very low pay. They are asking the government to ’help us help’ the developmentally disabled,” says Sid Ryan the Ontario president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the union that represents the majority of developmental services workers province-wide.
Ryan will be joined by area developmental services workers and NDP MPP Shelley Martel for a media conference, in Sudbury, on Tuesday, February 18th at 1:00 p.m. at 790 Lasalle Boulevard (Montrose Mall) to highlight what the government must do to improve services for the developmentally disabled.
CUPE members in the ACL sector have launched a province-wide campaign for fair wages and provincial standards to address wage rates that vary widely from agency to agency.
Last week, developmental services workers in Guelph delivered a Valentine’s Day message to Community, Family and Children’s Services minister Brenda Elliott, asking that her government ’have a heart’ and help both developmental services workers and those in need of services and their families by increasing provincial funding for agencies.
-30-
For more information please contact:
Sid Ryan, President CUPE Ontario
(416) 209-0066
Shelley Martel, MPP Nickel Belt
(705) 969-5072
Stella Yeadon, CUPE Communications
(416) 578-8774