With their strike nearing its fifth week, Canadian Hearing Services workers are still forming picket lines around the city – with no sign of any incoming offers from management to get back to work.
For deaf-blind intervenor Elizabeth Richardson, who only began with CHS a couple months before the strike, the strike dragging on has become a disappointing experience.
“This whole thing definitely upsets me because I was so excited to be working in the community and helping our deaf-blind community, and hard of hearing and deaf,” she said. “The fact that we're going on our fifth week next week, and there's still no offer at the table is just sad. I'm disappointed.”
CHS met with the workers’ union – CUPE Local 2073 – earlier this week, but no offer was made.
Instead, CHS presented the union with a list of demands to meet before even tabling its offer, workers said.
“The employer came to the table with four demands that we had to agree to before we could see an offer, and the demands were such that we couldn't agree to them without knowing or having any idea what that offer would even look like,” said CHS’s Kerri Tuckett.
Among CHS’ demands were agreeing to a media blackout, a publication ban, withdrawal of the union’s unfair labour practice complaint to the Ministry of Labour, and withdrawal of a union petition to Accreditation Canada – an organization that helps others reach global and national standards.
“They said accept these terms and then we will possibly bring something to the table. They wouldn't even say what their offer was,” Richardson said.
Providing a wide array of supports and services for the deaf community, CHS workers are frustrated with dwindling staff numbers, a push for services to be virtual, shuttered office spaces, and stagnating compensation – all while CHS executives have seen large wage increases in recent years.
The organization has dwindled from 500 former employees to the 200 it has now – including a drop from 10 in Sault Ste. Marie to six – resulting in workers that have grown frustrated as they are overburdened with increasing workloads and dwindling resources.
When contacted by SooToday, CHS responded with a FAQ including answers to several common questions. In it, they addressed the requested media blackout and other demands brought forward earlier this week.
“On May 21, Canadian Hearing Services and CUPE Local 2073 met at a bargaining session facilitated by a Ministry of Labour appointed mediator, in hope of moving toward finalizing the renewal of a collective agreement with our team,” the FAQ said.
“We were fully prepared to present a three-year agreement that is fair and substantial, addressing the concerns that have been raised by unionized staff.”
The FAQ said CHS’s requests were “reasonable and customary terms,” and called the workers’ petition to Accreditation Canada and the complaint to the Ministry of Labour “threatening tactics that stand in the way of open and principled bargaining.”