Workfare is
coming to a job near you
Be
on the lookout for some new people in your workplace this spring. Chances
are they’ll be welfare recipients being forced to work for their meagre
cheques.
It’s called workfare and it’s a much-cherished
policy of the Harris government.
Under the Conservatives, welfare is no longer a right
for people in need and between jobs. It’s become workfare, a program
that punishes people in need and provides a pool of cheap labour to
threaten and undermine union jobs.
Another blow to government workers.
Workfare should be particularly offensive to OPSEU
members.
This is the same government that has demolished the
equivalent of 20,000 full-time jobs in the Ontario Public Service (OPS).
And the lay-offs keep coming. There are less of us doing the work and we’re
overloaded.
The government’s response? Hire more temporary agency
staff and fee-for-service workers than ever before. Hire consultants and
pay them two to four times what they pay us for the same work.
Now the government plans to force welfare recipients to
do our work for next to nothing.
It’s not the people, it’s the program.
Picture this: workfare placements working next to you,
for a fraction of the pay, no benefits and no union protection. The
government has taken away their democratic right to join a union.
They’ll be placed in positions for six months,
sometimes longer, working 70 hours a month.
Their welfare cheque provides for barely subsistence
living, so in effect they’ll be working for less than minimum wage.
Most people on social assistance have worked in the past
and will work again. They need useful training so they can get
decent-paying permanent jobs, not short-term placements.
Workfare threatens our jobs and wages.
New York City has replaced 36,000 city workers with
workfare workers since the mid-1990’s. It has slashed wages by 12 per
cent for the workers who remained.
The Ontario government claims that workfare placements
won’t be doing our work. We don’t believe them.
OPSEU believes workfare placements will be assigned to
fill temporary vacancies resulting from maternity leaves etc.
This violates the Employment Stability article of our
collective agreement. Under Article 20, employees who have received
notices of layoff have a right to fill temporary vacancies.
This keeps them working in the OPS beyond their
six-month notice period. This keeps them eligible for any permanent jobs
that come up. But if workfare placements fill temporary vacancies,
opportunities for our members to keep working are closed off.
It could cost you a better job.
The government says workfare placements will "gain
new skills", presumably from training. OPSEU believes they will get
training over our members.
This also violates the Employment Stability article of
our collective agreement. Under Article 20, employees who have received
notices of layoff have the right to training to fill vacancies that they
don’t have the qualifications for. If they become qualified once they’ve
completed the training, they keep the job.
If workfare placements receive the training over our
members, it closes off another chance for our members to stay in the OPS
and get trained for a better job.
Fight workfare.
OPSEU has filed a policy grievance against the expansion
of workfare in the Ontario Public Service. The grievance will go to
arbitration.
We must do more to fight workfare and campaign for the
creation of real jobs:
• Have your local meet with your managers to raise your objections to
workfare.
Tell them that people on social assistance need real
jobs that pay a living wage, not short-term placements.
• Demand a permanent and stable workforce for the OPS.
This was an issue in the last two rounds of contract
talks in the OPS. It will be an issue in the next round.
The government should immediately stop laying off
employees. It should stop using temporary agency and fee-for-service
workers, and consultants. It should stop using workfare placements.
It should hire people for permanent jobs, with full pay
and benefits.
• Sign the petition for a workfare free zone.
Copies have been distributed by labour councils and
social justice groups across the province. Click
here for your copy (.pdf file .9.15KB). Or call OPSEU’s
Campaigns Department for a copy at 1-800-268-7376 ext. 207, or e-mail
mpark@opseu.org.
• Join with labour councils and social justice groups to fight
workfare.
Find out how to join or start a social
justice group in your community by contacting Andrea Calver at the Ontario
Coalition for Social Justice at (416) 441-3714 or e-mail ocsj@sympatico.ca.
If you live in Toronto, contact the Metro Network for Social Justice at
(416) 351-0095 or mnsj@interlog.com
Ontario Public Service Employees Union
100 Lesmill Road
Toronto, Ontario M3B 3P8
www.opseu.org opseu@opseu.org
Original authorized by Leah Casselman, President
