Community living workers in Powell River are waiting to see if additional pressure from union locals around the province will push the provincial government back to the negotiating table.
“People don’t enter this field of work with aspirations of becoming rich,” said Robyn Auclair, president of CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) Local 4601, which represents workers at Powell River Association for Community Living. “They simply want to be able to make enough to reasonably support themselves and their families.”
More than 15,000 community living workers who provide care for BC residents with developmental disabilities have been without a contract since last spring.
A 24-hour strike took place Wednesday, January 30 in Richmond to increase pressure on Victoria. More 24-hour job actions are planned for communities in the Interior and Kootenay region in the coming weeks.
The strikes involve workers from 10 different unions which make up the Community Social Services Union Bargaining Association. The two largest unions in the association are British Columbia Government and Service Employees’ Union and CUPE.
“We have not had a raise in 10 years,” said Auclair. “Our local members would like to see a reasonable wage increase including a cost of living increase.”
Workers were paid a starting wage of $16.83 in 2002, today they make $15.54.
Auclair said that workers are also looking for a restoration of sick benefits.
“Many of our members are not able to afford to take time off when they are ill,” said Auclair. “Many of our members are forced to work two or three jobs just to make ends meet.”
The contract is being negotiated under Victoria’s cooperative gains mandate, which forces social service providers to find efficiencies in their own budgets to afford increases.
“In other words, if members are to receive a wage increase they have to give up something else,” said Auclair.
Nicholas Simons, MLA for Powell River-Sunshine Coast, is also the New Democratic Party’s critic for Community Living BC, the provincial crown agency responsible for providing care for adults with
developmental disabilities.
“People who work in this sector are among the lowest paid in the public service,” said Simons. “In light of where the provincial government’s priorities are now, I can understand their frustration.”
Simons said that government seems more interested in spending taxpayers’ money on “advertising, self-promotion and festivities,” citing Victoria’s recent $15-million advertising campaign promoting the government’s record as fiscal managers and money spent on a film industry award. “It’s a matter of priorities.”
There needs to be some fairness in wages, he added. “These are the people who work with our most vulnerable citizens.”
