Striking Community Living London workers attempt to confront Rob Flack at the MPP’s luncheon

OPSEU members rallied at a lunch co-hosted by MPP Rob Flack. CTV London’s Bryan Bicknell has more on the message from demonstrators.

A business luncheon with Elgin Middlesex London PC MPP Rob Flack was disrupted by protesters Tuesday.

About 50 members of OPSEU Local 166 rallied outside Flack’s St. Thomas constituency office. They planted protest signs in windows for all to see. They interacted with arriving guests. And they made plenty of noise. They were trying to get a face-to-face with Flack, said Local 166 president Lisa Fewster.

“We’ve been asking him to meet for over seven weeks, and he refuses to meet with us,” she exclaimed. “We just want to have a conversation, and we just need this fixed. Ontario is in crisis.”

The Community Living London workers are now in their seventh week of a strike. While the union is negotiating with the employer, the province must sign off on any deal, as Community Living London is funded by the Ontario Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services.

Workers are seeking the same 6.5 per cent pay increase awarded to other Ontario workers after Bill 124, the province’s wage-capping bill, was overturned in court rulings.

Their fight has the support of some who attended the luncheon, including Martine MacDonald, who offered encouragement to the OPSEU local president.

“I think everybody should stand up for what they believe in. If we don’t stand up for what we believe in, then no action takes place, unfortunately. So keep fighting, that’s all I have to say,” said MacDonald before going into the luncheon.

After repeated requests for the protestors to leave the premises, at the privately owned, historic Caso Station, police were called. After some negotiation with attending officers, the striking workers retreated to the rear of the building, which is public property.

The strike by OPSEU is province-wide, with more than 45-hundred workers on picket lines at Community Living offices across Ontario, including close to 600 in London.

Outside the Community Living London offices on Adelaide Street in London, picketing continued. Union member Mike Horton said the striking workers are growing weary.

“At the very beginning, we all kind of thought we were hopeful,” said Horton. “And then you reach about the four-week part, and some of those hopes start to fall by the wayside. And I think by now we’re all just ready to go. We’re ready for this to end,” Horton said.

Community Living London is using replacement workers during the strike. Fewster says there are several thousand people on the waitlist for support.

“There’s people living in nursing homes that are 30, 40 years old just to get medical care. That is not quality of life for people with developmental disabilities,” she said.

The striking workers did not get their meeting with Flack Tuesday. CTV News spoke to the MPP briefly at the event, who simply commented that “democracy is messy sometimes,” however, he declined our request for a formal interview.

In a statement to CTV News, a spokesperson for the Ministry wrote, “Our government has made historic investments in the development services sector, including nearly $4 billion this year, an increase of $1.6 billion since we took office in 2018 to provide people with access to the services they need, when they need them. While collective bargaining is a matter between the employer and the union, we expect every service provider to have strong contingency plans to protect residents and ensure their care is not disrupted.”