TORONTO- Front-line children's aid workers from across Ontario say despite their commitment to improving child welfare, chronic provincial underfunding and serious workload problems make it difficult to help vulnerable children.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union and the Canadian Union of Public Employees will update the media on province-wide progress on labour issues in the child welfare sector, and how these affect service:
Date: January 15, 2004
Time: 1:00 pm
Place: Media Studio, Queen's Park
Who: OPSEU President Leah Casselman, CUPE Ontario President Sid Ryan, front-line workers from both unions.
CUPE and OPSEU, which represent the thousands of employees of most of the 52 Children's Aid Societies across Ontario, are coordinating their contract talks. Workload and provincial underfunding continue to hurt services to at- risk children, say CAS staff who estimate 70-75 per cent of their work time is tied up in paperwork and red tape.
For further information:
David Cox, OPSEU Communications, (416) 443-8888;
Stella Yeadon, CUPE Communications, (416) 578-8774
