There was an urgent plea in the Ontario Legislature on Wewdnesday, for the government to help end the ongoing lockout at the Canadian Mental Health Association Cochrane-Timiskaming.
Timiskaming-Cochrane New Democratic MPP John Vanthof said CMHA clients are not being served while the workers are forced off the job.
He acknowledged that any labour dispute has two sides.
“But I urge the management, and I urge the government, to discuss with the management what the roadblocks are from their end,” he stated.. “They’re not that far apart and we are facing a mental health crisis.”
The lockout of 147 unionized workers began February 13th. They provide services and programming to about 1,600 clients. Vanthof says those clients have “some of the most dire needs in the province”.
