open letter to "workin' stiff"

One of my readers sent me an email last week. The reader signed their email "Workin' Stiff". First, I want to say thanks, Workin' Stiff, for reading my blog. Workin' Stiff sent something that was purported to be "secret" material, specifically a memo from a higher up at Community Living of British Columbia (CLBC) directing those in receipt of the memo to track the dollars saved when disabled individuals are moved from residential facilities (group homes) to family homes, or what's called proprietary care.

Workin' Stiff went on to suggest there may something odd or suspect about BCGEU (British Columbia Government and Service Worker's Union) President George Heyman's involvement in this process. But I think the movement from the group home care model to a the family care model has been going on, in the light of day, for some time.

These things are happening, more or less, in the open. When I say this, I mean that anyone, any worker in the community living sector, unionized or no, can find out about these trends by reading at their union's website or attending the annual general meetings at their agencies, or examining the entrails of a sacrificial goat.

The thing is, Workin' Stiff, we are the sacrificial goat.
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Let me give this matter the usual sunshine and light Johnny Maudlin treatment. Here is what I've learned, over 25 years in the direct service of individuals with disabilities, and over 53 years as a human type being:

- The disabled have diminishing value in a larger community that is fighting, dog and cat-like, for the ever smaller baggies of money coming back to us from our duly elected governments.

- When you come to understand, each and every day, that so-called typical children and old folks are being forced to wait for medical services, including emergency care, then it's becomes ever more clear what fate awaits adults with mental handicaps and their caregivers.

- We are now housing the disabled. Not much more, and in the case of folks suffering mental illness and/or addictions, sometimes much less.

The smaller and even larger agencies that deliver services to the disabled are making deal after deal after deal with the devil. And the devil comes in many disguises. Flexible services. There's a devil. Sounds great to provide flexible services, except when you realize flexible services means every consumer and family member are out for themselves, in a brutal competition for a slice of smaller pie.

There is a race to get what you can for your family member, and, generally speaking, family members are interested in their own convenience. So they want workers to come and spell them off for an hour or two in the evening, and they want agencies to provide transport to and from day programs, they want tailor made services, and they want all of this for less.

If this means workers need to work two, or even three jobs to make a living, that's the worker's problem. The head of CLBC, Doug Mowles, has been grinding his ax on the skulls of unionized men and women as long as I can remember.

The last time service providers and unionized workers might have stood up to draw attention to the growing chaos in service delivery to the disabled, all parties stood down. Agency heads were not about to draw the disfavour of those who hold power in government or in the government's sock puppet, so-called community based Community Living of British Columbia (CLBC).

The leadership of the BCGEU flat out lied to workers in the community living sector. They promised to lead us into a strike action to focus the attention of employers and the community at large. Hell, we never even took a strike vote. When push came to shove, our union leaders moved sideways. Those of us who have made community living our career are now one decade into a compensation downward spiral. The things we fought for, in the past, have been handed back, and without as much as a peep from the sabre rattlers at the BCGEU.

As Sister Millie, the last real tough union broad I know, puts it, we in community living are doomed to "...suck at the hind teat..." Coming up to one year ago, Carole Taylor, British Columbia's finance minister, extended her hand, in peace, to big bad labour, and in her hand was the lubrication of a $4000 one time signing bonus. George Heyman and the workers in community living could not bend over fast enough.
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The outcome was predictable. The rot is so deep now the house might has well come right down to the ground. Staffing shortages are the norm. The goodwill of workers and managers in this field of endeavor has been exhausted. Despite the return of statuatory pay for casual workers who work on holidays, those workers are often choosing a day off from work. Avoidance is the new dance of choice for community social service workers. When the boss calls, we run in the other direction, as fast as we can.

So, Workin' Stiff, there is only one move left to turn a sinking ship to safer waters. At least there is only one honest and honourable move: cut existing programs and staffing levels to a sustainable level. Take those unfortunates on waiting lists and place them back inside some kind of centralized service facility. That would be an institution.

Because what we have now is thousands of little institutions, where the disabled are warm, yes, and fed, but bored out of their minds waiting for something to happen. And nothing is. There is no longer consistent forward motion toward the goal of full inclusion for adults with disabilities. We are smack dab in the middle of the big stall.

Of course, what I'm suggesting won't happen. Agency heads will continue to "yes" when demands are made to intake individuals needing service. Workers will continue to try and remember when they could predict what their duties would be, from day to day, but we won't be able to. Because those running the show have accepted that chronic and unhealthy rates of change are the reality.

Maybe something will happen to changes things for the next generation of workers and individuals in community living. But this generation is done. Like dinner.
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