“Overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated:” Developmental Support Workers strike for higher wages

More than 400 support workers with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Local 740 launched a strike on Monday outside of Community Living Thunder Bay (CLTB) on John Street.

The workers of OPSEU Local 740 are striking alongside about 4000 other workers across Ontario as part of the Worth Fighting For campaign, which aims to earn retroactive pay raises to make up for the Ontario government’s Bill 124.

In 2019, the bill imposed a wage freeze, capping raises at one per cent annually for provincial public sector workers.

The bill was repealed in 2024 after the courts deemed it unconstitutional.

Ontario public employees in other sectors were eventually able to secure 6.5 per cent retroactive wage increases to make up for Bill 124, but Developmental Support Workers (DSWs) are the only group of provincial public sector workers who have never seen the retroactive pay returned.

“We’ve let the Ford government know that we are worth fighing for, and we want what every other public service worker in Ontario got,” says Cindy Mazan, president of the Local 740 branch of OPSEU.

Mazan makes clear that the Worth Fighting For campaign’s target is the Ontario government, not employers.

“It’s not necessarily breakdowns with our employer, it’s breakdowns with the government,” she explains. “We are going after the government for this money because we know that our organizations don’t have the money to pay for us.”

DSWs are poorly paid for the work they do, which can entail physical injury and high levels of stress.

“Many of us have two or three jobs in order to get by, so this money is really important,” says Mazan. “It’s for quality of life. Our members deserve it. we take care of the most vulnerable people in the community.”

Erin Smith, a member of Local 740 and a Regional Executive Board member for OPSEU, echoes the words of Mazan, and questions why the wages of her and her colleagues have failed to keep up with the cost of living.

“It makes us feel like we are disrespected, that we’re not given the credit we deserve, that we’re overworked, we’re underpaid, and we’re underappreciated,” she says in a voice thick with emotion.

As a board member of a regional OPSEU body, Smith is privy to the wider situation across the province for support workers.

She describes a picture of workers enduring violence, mental health challenges, and burnout.

“It’s not an easy job,” she says.

DSWs are trained to support individuals with developmental disabilities, which is no simple task.

“They can be challenging, they can be unpredictable, but they can be sweet as pie. You have to be on your toes all the time,” Smith describes.

The underfunding of the sector only complicates matters.

Smith says across Ontario, over 63,000 adults are on a waitlist for developmental services.

She explains that “most of the people who do come in for service are on a crisis list. So we’re seeing high needs people coming in and not enough staffing.”

Hiring replacements

Several workers on the picket line could be seen bearing signs criticizing CLTB for contracting “scab” workers to fill in for the strikers.

“We were just letting the public know that Nurse Next Door, which is a private, for-profit company, is actually taking our tax dollars and hiring scabs to replace us while we are on strike,” says Mazan of the issue.

Mazan is concerned that the replacement workers may not have the same training as the full-time employees who normally work with CLTB.

“We also know that a lot of these workers that were hired are newer to Canada, which means they may not understand what it means to cross the picket line,” Mazan explains. “So we truly feel that Community Living Thunder Bay and Nurse Next Door has exploited these workers.”

Smith, meanwhile, feels CLTB should be on standing alongside its workers on the picket line.

“I would much prefer that my employer stood up to the hand that feeds them,” she says. “Their jobs and the money that they make every day is dependent upon us. We are the backbone of the agencies… It’d be great if they could stand up against the government and say ‘they’re right, we need more funding, they do deserve more money.'”

Community Living Thunder Bay put out a press release on Monday, stating that the care provider “remains committed to reaching a fair and sustainable agreement through respectful and good-faith discussions, and is ready to return to the bargaining table whenever OPSEU Local 740 is prepared to meet,” and that it “is focused on ensuring the continued safety, well-being, and support of the individuals and families who rely on its services.”

The strike is likely to continue, as Cindy Mazan says the 740 branch has the full support of OPSEU, and is prepared to strike for as long as it takes to get the 6.5 per cent retroactive pay bump.

At the time of publication, Nurse Next Door had yet to respond to requests for comment. This story will be updated should they respond.