For a decade, the City of Toronto has lived under a climate of austerity which has affected not just the residents of our city but its workers. Our buildings are falling apart, our services are stretched thin and the staff who run our city are being run off their feet.
Today, Mayor Chow launched her version of the 2025 City of Toronto budget. We agree with the Mayor that in the middle of an affordability crisis, people need public services most and that it is finally time to rebuild our city.
Rebuilding our city requires investments in its workers. As Torontonians struggle with the cost of living and try to lift each other up, our members are already doing the work necessary to build community. An investment in the recruitment and retention of the people who run our shelters, take care of our children and elderly, test our water, manage traffic, answer 311 calls, run our recreation programs, facilitate the building of affordable housing and so much more is vital.
Today, we remain disappointed with the City of Toronto’s refusal to invest in the workers who have been providing life-saving harm reduction services to our most vulnerable residents. Instead of redeploying the qualified workers from The Works safe injection site and actually showing leadership, Toronto Public Health maintains their stance that these positions will be deleted.
Equally concerning is the lack of emphasis on additional positions for call takers and dispatchers in the Central Ambulance Communications Centre and the lack of advocacy to the provincial government for more operating dollars. The crisis in emergency response times will not improve if there are no workers available to dispatch the additional paramedics that will be hired. Every Toronto resident should be concerned about not having enough ambulance dispatchers – this is a matter of life and death.
Local 79 members ensure the City of Toronto functions. Our members deserve respect for their work and recognition of the crises impacting their labour.
