By Karen Nickel

Homes First strikers rally in front of city hall on March 15
PHOTO: KAREN NICKEL / THE DIALOG

Dialog Reporter

“One, two, three, four, no one should be working poor!” chanted 30 members of OPSEU local 540 who protested in front of city hall on Friday, March 15, calling on city council to step in and force their employer to come to the table. “Five, six, seven, eight, come on Homes First negotiate!”

OPSEU 540 is a small union of about 70 people, mostly women, who work to get permanent housing for over 500 low-income people in shelters and homes around Toronto.

Their employer, Homes First, refused to negotiate a fair agreement since the old one ended in March 2012. One of the workers’ chief complaints is that Homes First has turned to temporary agencies to the tune of $60,000 in the last three months. The union questions this since they already have a professional staff available that want and need the work. They are also upset that Homes First has hired a security firm to walk temps into and out of the building and, according to the union, “intimidate” workers.

The union filed a bad faith bargaining complaint with the Ontario Labour Relations Board who scheduled a hearing on February 13. When they came to the table, Homes First refused to stop the practice of using temps, causing negotiations to fail and both sides walked away from the table. The strike began on February 18. Negotiations failed again on March 6 for the third time.

At the city hall rally, union member Rosamund Elwin said, “it is disgusting and shameful that Homes First refuses to negotiate. Contact funders and tell them about the bad management of the 6 million dollars that the city pays to Homes First annually”.

Trade unionists from other unions, including Canadian Union of Postal Workers, came out to support the strikers. PHOTO: KAREN NICKEL / THE DIALOG

Part of their campaign is drawing attention to this funding; their banner read, “Bad Management, You’re paying for it.” The union argues that as a taxpayer-funded organization, they should open up their books for public review; something they refuse to do.

Although a small union, they had success in disrupting operations. Elwin stated that they have “stopped mail and package delivery; blocked Second Harvest deliveries; and halted scheduled elevator repairs, putting pressure on management”. One member, George England, was issued a $110 noise pollution ticket at 10 a.m. for blocking management’s parking space and blowing the horn of his van.

While one group was at the rally, the negotiating team was with Homes First representatives trying to come up with a deal. Late that night they came to an agreement, signing a three-year contract that gives the union priority for shifts and extra work hours and

puts language in place to deal with harassment and discrimination.

Maybe Homes First finally heard the chanting from city hall, “Home First staff, we don’t hate.  We just want to negotiate!”