Dear Colleagues,
For more than 10 weeks, OPSEU/SEFPO members across Ontario —including members at Community Living Trent Highlands (Local 358 in Peterborough) and the Murray McKinnon Foundation (Local 361 in Durham) have been on strike in a fight for fair wages, safe staffing levels, and the funding needed to provide quality community services. But the government has been a “ghost at the table” abandoning their responsibilities in this bargaining round. This summer, TUFA made solidarity contributions to both these Locals.
These workers support some of the most vulnerable members of our communities. Yet after years of chronic underfunding by the Ford government, many have been pushed into poverty, forced to work multiple jobs, or rely on food banks just to make ends meet.
This strike is about more than wages. It is about defending Ontario’s community services and demanding that the provincial government properly fund the sector instead of balancing the books on the backs of workers.
How You Can Help:
- Walk a picket line. Join striking workers in Peterborough or Durham and show your support. If you would like to represent TUFA, contact us to arrange to borrow a TUFA flag to fly on the line.
- Participate in the OPSEU email campaign. Send an email to Doug Ford to let him know you stand with OPSEU and that they’re worth fighting for.
- OPSEU 351 workers are asking supporters to email Executive Director Teresa Jordan and Human Resources Director Steve Burke, urging management to accept the bargaining team’s proposed path forward and help bring this dispute to a fair resolution.
As union members, we know that victories at one bargaining table strengthen workers everywhere. These workers are standing up not only for themselves, but for the future of Ontario’s community services and the people who rely on them every day.
Let’s stand with them.