Looming Strike Points to Deep Seated Problems at YWCA Toronto

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The workers who run the YWCA Toronto’s homeless shelters often leave work and go to food banks. Many of those who help families find stable housing live with the daily stress of how they’re going to afford their own rent. This simmering crisis of poverty and precarity among YWCA Toronto workers has led to a possible historic strike at the feminist agency in less than three weeks.

A No-Board report was delivered yesterday by the Ontario Labour Relations Board, meaning that more than 250 YWCA workers – members of CUPE 2189 – will be in a legal strike position as of May 22. A strike will impact mental health services for survivors of trauma, employment supports for women looking for work, shelters and housing programs for families facing homelessness, parenting and childcare programs, and more.

“We work with some of Toronto’s most vulnerable, women, women identifying people, and families. But the YWCA has made their own workers vulnerable too. This work is mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting and there is absolutely no reason why we should be pushed into poverty or forced to use food banks doing jobs that save lives,” said Amanda Kinna, a business administrator at the YWCA and president of CUPE 2189. “Investing in workers with better wages and job security will help improve the services we offer and avoid a strike.”

Many of CUPE 2189 members work second or third jobs to make ends meet. Still, over 70% struggle to pay their bills and 10% regularly use food banks. Most glaringly, the vast majority of members are paid so little as to quality for the YWCA’s own rent-geared-to-income housing support programs.

“If women came to us with these salaries, we’d help them find and keep housing. That means that the YWCA knows it’s paying us poverty wages, and they are fine with it,” said Kinna. Some YWCA staff earn a little as $38,000 a year. “The YWCA talks about building a more equitable, feminist society but they only apply that goal to management and the women we serve, not workers.”

CUPE 2189 members saw their wages capped at 1% by the Progressive Conservative government’s wage suppressing Bill 124 legislation during a period of skyrocketing inflation. While workers fell further behind, management awarded themselves double digit raises. Faced with reasonable proposals that would help members live in the communities they serve, the YWCA offered workers 2.5%, and a hardship loan.

“I give this job my all but it doesn’t give me enough. I have a second job. I work seven days a week. That doesn’t leave any time for my own children,” said Elizabeth Legenza, an intake worker with the YWCA for 15 years. “We love what we do and we don’t do it for the paycheque. But that desire to give back cannot be weaponized against us to the detriment of our own families. Our jobs are critical. So is our well-being.”

CUPE 2189 members remain hopeful that the YWCA and their funders will see the justice of investing in their workers when they return to the table on May 15.

Quick Facts:

• CUPE 2189 represents roughly 250 workers who staff emergency shelters, violence against women shelters, permanent housing sites, and other programs across Toronto.
• A 2024 survey revealed that:
  • 71% of workers struggle to pay monthly bills.
  • 46% of workers have cut back on food each month.
  • 72% of workers can’t save money or have drained their savings account.
  • 10% of workers regularly use food banks.

:od/cope491