HAMILTON, ON – Frontline residential and community outreach workers at Good Shepherd Family Centre, Reaching Home and Women’s Services Hamilton, who are represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 5167, are exhausted from long hours, low pay, and acute workplace stress that has resulted in chronic understaffing, high staff turnover, leading to the rapidly declining wellbeing of workers.

“When workplaces are chronically short-staffed and employees are coming into work not knowing when they’ll be able to go home, it takes a real toll on our members’ mental and physical health while ensuring the highest quality of service they are able to provide,” says Jay Berberick, Vice-President of CUPE Local 5167. “In recent attempts to improve staffing, management hired 15 new employees, but seven of them quit within a week. The expectations on staff are exceptionally high—in a single shift, members have experienced physical and verbal abuse while assisting individuals within our community that are very vulnerable and handling a multitude of complexities.”

Good Shepherd Family Centre and Women’s Services Hamilton provides approximately 200 shelter bed spaces for the City of Hamilton’s shelter system. During the pandemic, the shelters have been consistently over capacity. The union claims that Good Shepherd’s inability to retain staff boils down to poor wages, which start at around $16.00 per hour, and exceedingly difficult working conditions.

“It’s absolutely heart-breaking—our members care very deeply for the people they support and want them to have the resources they need to get stabilized and properly housed,” continued Berberick. “Workers simply don’t have the support they need from the employer to meet the needs of those entering the shelter system.”

Complaints to Good Shepherd about the safety of workers and staffing concerns have not resulted in substantive workplace change or any real improvement of working conditions, reports the union.

“Working in emergency shelters and community outreach, including home visits to some of the most vulnerable in our community, is a high-risk job. You never know what you’ll be walking into during a shift or how long you’ll be working on a given day,” continued Berberick. “We’re just asking for the respect our members deserve so we can continue working in this important sector, providing support to individuals who may not have anyone or anywhere else to turn to.”

June 21 is usually a day of celebration for Indigenous peoples, however, this year is a much more challenging time as Indigenous communities across the country mourn the recent discovery of 215 Indigenous children buried at a mass grave site at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in BC.

As Canada’s largest union, we acknowledge that because of these recent events, it is more important than ever to respect the rights of Indigenous peoples to their unceded territories, as well as to preserve and protect their cultures and languages. CUPE stands in solidarity with Indigenous nations, communities and organizations and is committed to continuing to work towards reconciliation, and to respect our on-going treaty relationships.

Our union is striving to educate CUPE members on the legacy of the residential school system and the ongoing harm Canada’s assimilationist policies and laws have on Indigenous peoples.

In 2019, CUPE released “Walking the talk: A practical guide to reconciliation for CUPE locals”. This guide provides CUPE members with key resources to better acknowledge and include Indigenous members in our union, and to help locals take concrete action towards reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

As part of our ongoing efforts to foster reconciliation in our workplaces and communities, we encourage all members to participate in National Indigenous Peoples Day by sharing in the events of the day. But we can do more.  CUPE encourages members to take some time to learn and reflect on the ongoing harm caused by colonialism and Canada’s treatment of Indigenous peoples.

We know that the current COVID-19 pandemic has drastically altered the ways people interact, but it is now even easier to attend events related to National Indigenous Peoples Day through virtual platforms.

What CUPE locals and members can do:

Educate:

• Read the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Final Report and consider how you can support the calls to action.
• Invite a speaker to your next virtual meeting to talk about truth and reconciliation.
• Ask for CUPE’s Indigenous Awareness workshop and our human rights course. Find out more at cupe.ca.
• Read CUPE’s response to the Final Report by National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

Bargain:

• Make employment equity a bargaining priority.
• Act:

• Acknowledge Indigenous territory at all of your meetings and reach out and forge partnerships with local Indigenous communities and organizations.
• Keep pressure on the federal government to implement their action plan to address the findings of the Final Report by National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
• Take the steps outlined in Walking the talk: A practical guide to reconciliation for CUPE locals.
• Watch out for CUPE’s Water is Life Campaign to be launched in the fall of 2021. The campaign will provide materials and resources for members and locals to increase awareness and take action on Indigenous water issues.