FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 19, 2001
Red tape hurting children: CAS workers
Workers in Children’s Aid Societies (CAS) across the province are asking the government to help cut their workload, reduce the red tape, and allow them to do their job which is to help the province’s children.
”The Harris government has created a serious crisis in the CAS sector,” said Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) President Leah Casselman. “It’s up to the government to meet with the unions and the employers now and straighten this mess out.” A coalition including OPSEU and Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)
members working at CAS offices across Ontario will be holding events Oct. 26 as part of a campaign to bring attention to severe workload issues faced by child welfare workers in Ontario.
“Sixty to seventy per cent of our work time is tied up with paperwork and red tape”, said Linda Aho, an employee of the Sudbury CAS and Chair of OPSEU’s CAS sector. “We want to spend our time helping children, but we can’t. There are simply not enough workers to do the work there is to do.”
“It is not simply a question of more money,” she said. “Few people want to go into this field of work right now because the workload is just so horrendous.”
The 54 Children’s Aid Societies across Ontario have, collectively, a deficit of more than $50 million, and the Ministry is forcing CAS employers to address this shortfall themselves. The workers are asking for the government to:
- Re-Instate the Comprehensive Review of the Funding Formula that was promised three years ago when the Tories implemented it;
- Work with the Employers and the Unions to develop realistic workload guidelines, as was recommended by the Coroners’ Inquests; and
- Fund existing deficits for 2001 – 2002 and withdraw the threat of anti-deficit legislation claw backs for 2002 –2003.
OPSEU represents workers at 17 of Ontario’s Children’s Aid Societies.
-30-
For more information, contact:
David Cox, OPSEU Communications: 416-443-8888 x 314
Linda Aho, OPSEU Sector Chair: 705-523-3761
