Family members worried as strike continues at GTA care home

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Family members of people living in a GTA group home say they are worried about the well-being of their loved ones as home management provides limited information. about how their loved ones will be cared for after support staff walked off the job earlier this week.

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Support staff at Central West Specialized Development Services, a provincially funded supportive living community for adults with developmental disabilities, walked off the job Wednesday night, more than 40 days after CWSDS management requested a report on the lack of advice from the Ontario Ministry of Labour.

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The workers, represented by Local 249 of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, have meanwhile been replaced by employees from an outside agency who will care for residents while the strike continues.

Julie Geiss, president of the local union, says union members expect higher wages, mental health support and better working conditions in the new collective bargaining agreement. She says members voted against two of the employer's proposals before calling a strike on Wednesday. Those proposals contained very few changes, and Geiss said workers felt the employer was using bullying and intimidation tactics to push through the new agreement.

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In an emailed statement, CWSDS CEO Patricia Kyle wrote that she “categorically rejects” allegations of intimidation or bullying. She said CWSDS, which offered employees a 6.5 percent average pay increase and expanded mental health benefits, acted in good faith throughout negotiations and “remains committed to achieving a competitive and sustainable agreement.”

She also said the home's “top priority is the safety and well-being” of those in CWSDS care while the strike continues.

But Rabia Khedr, whose brother Shah Khan lives at the main CWSDS facility, says she has a number of “unanswered questions” about the quality of care her brother will receive while his regular support staff are on the picket line and feel isolated from CWSDS management.

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Khedr's concerns about CWSDS began last month when home management relocated residents from group homes in Burlington, Halton Hills, Mississauga and Oakville to the company's main Oakville facility on Bond Street without consulting family members or obtaining consent in anticipation of a business interruption. She says Shah, who is non-verbal and already living in the main building, suddenly had five new housemates who moved into repurposed study rooms, creating what she says was a crowded and stressful environment.

Since the move, Khedr says she has been frustrated by the lack of information about how residents will be cared for while all residents are housed on Bond Street. She is also even more concerned about her brother's health and safety after his injury went untreated.

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Khedr says that during a recent home visit, she noticed Shah had a cut on his finger that looked infected. Her family took him to an emergency room doctor, who prescribed antibiotics and ointment to treat the wound, and her family gave them to the support staff when they took Shah back home, with instructions on how to treat the wound.

Khedr says she asked the house to see an account of how Shah was injured, but received no explanation about it. She also claims that Shah had to be taken to the doctor again four days later because his injury was not treated at home.

“It may seem like a minor injury, but if I don't ask these questions, if there's no staff around who knows him and knows that he's physically injured, this is not normal for him, then what's going to happen to his finger and this infection?” – said Khedr.

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Kyle did not respond to a question from the Canadian Press about Shah's injury. However, she did not specify which company the employees of the third-party agency were from.

Ian Beddoe is another concerned family member. Her son Chris, who is 46 and has Prader-Willi syndrome, was transferred to the main facility in Oakville last month with only one cardboard box of his clothes. She says that while Chris is doing “surprisingly well” in his new surroundings, he misses his regular support workers and was visibly agitated when he saw workers picketing when he was taken for an outing over the weekend on Saturday.

“He saw some of the co-workers he knew and started crying because he misses them so much and they are his family,” Beddoe said in a phone interview.

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“He's very concerned about them,” she said, adding that she also wants to see a speedy resolution to the labor dispute that has put employees “between a rock and a hard place.”

Beddoe also has her own stressors related to the move. Chris, who has an uncontrollable appetite due to Prader-Willi syndrome, has gained 14 pounds since moving to the main facility, which Beddoe said she had to tell the agency's temporary staff. She said she also had to contact agency staff about how to change his colostomy bag, which made the situation worse.

Beddoe says that while agency staff were responsive to her contacts with them, management was not responsive to families' requests for care for their loved ones.

Beddoe says she isn't as concerned about Chris's well-being as other family members because she also lives in Oakville and actively cares for him—something she acknowledges isn't the case for many CWSDS residents who have aging parents or families moving on.

“We all deserve to feel safe, and we and these guys don’t have that,” Beddoe said.

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