CUPE members who work in social services and community-based organizations are well-trained, compassionate individuals who are committed to delivering high quality services and support programs. They work with individuals who are in crisis and have challenging and aggressive behaviours, multiple diagnoses, and histories of violence.
All individuals deserve care and support, but those services cannot be provided at the expense of workers’ health and safety. Workplace violence and harassment should not be viewed as an inevitable part of the work that social service workers perform. Yet they are the target of violence, threats of violence, and deal with client-on-client violence, on a regular basis.
Violence hurts workers and the individuals they support. It results in physical and psychological injuries, low morale, burnout, high staff turnover, and struggles to recruit and retain workers.
There are multiple factors that contribute to high rates of violence in social services. The chronic under-funding of the sector plays a key role. It results in heavy, highly stressful, and unmanageable workloads; inadequate staffing levels; and overwork. When workers are stretched thin, they can feel less in control of their interactions with clients and less able to prevent violence or recognize when violent interactions may occur.
The pervasiveness of workplace violence and harassment across the social services sector demands responsive and effective organizational interventions. Employers should foster a workplace culture that promotes and values workers’ health and safety. This includes introducing measures to reduce staff workloads, increasing staffing levels, and helping workers feel comfortable raising safety concerns.
CUPE is launching a new bargaining resource to improve the health and safety of members employed in social services. It contains collective agreement language with specific recommendations for the prevention of workplace violence and harassment. If negotiated into collective agreements, the language could help to reduce incident rates and mitigate the serious consequences of experiencing or witnessing violence and harassment while on the job.
If your local wants to develop a plan to negotiate new health and safety protections in your next round of bargaining, contact your CUPE servicing representative for further support.