This is an archive of news stories and research from the National Union of Public and General Employees. Please see our new site - https://nupge.ca - for the most current information.
'There is a crisis in the child protection system and the underlying problem is that there are not enough front-line workers.' - SGEU president Bob Bymoen.
Regina (15 Dec. 2010) - Front-line social workers face unacceptable levels of work overload and have been raising concerns about inadequate staffing and resources for more than a decade.
The Saskatchewan Government and General Employees' Union (SGEU/NUPGE) is again raising the issue, appealing to the province's Saskatchewan Party government to take action quickly.
"There is a crisis in the child protection system and the underlying problem is that there are not enough front-line workers to handle the demand for services for children at-risk,” says SGEU president Bob Bymoen.
Bymoen notes that the province's current auditor along with former ministry of social services officials have also spoken out recently about the extent of the problem.
However, there has been little focus on the needs of the front-line workers who struggle every day to keep children safe, Bymoen notes.
"A social worker may start her day planning to conduct interviews or do a scheduled home visit but may end up having to investigate an allegation of child sexual abuse, deal with an attempted suicide or intervene on behalf of an abandoned child," he notes.
"It is unjust to lay blame on social workers who are unable to meet all of the demands placed on them," he argues.
"If government carries out its plan to cut even more jobs from the public service as it announced in the provincial 2010-2011 budget, we can expect this problem to get worse, not better. We have had meetings, written briefs and sat on joint committees but until more staff and more resources are in place the crisis will continue to escalate," he says.
"Government has a legal and moral duty to safeguard vulnerable children. It is simply a question of priorities. We can and must find the financial and human resources to strengthen vulnerable families and protect children from violence and abuse."
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE