The local strike at Lanark Leeds and Grenville Addictions and Mental Health has entered its 11th day with no end in sight.
The union is calling on CEO Kim Gifford to publicly advocate for more funding, saying she has acknowledged funding pressures during bargaining but has not made those concerns public.
OPSEU staff representative Alex Lane says the current offer is similar to the one that led to the strike vote, and workers remain concerned about funding levels and financial management at the agency.
The union says many members are struggling with rising costs while leadership pay increases have drawn criticism. It warns the longer the strike continues, the more disruptive it will become for services and the community.
The union says it has not received a request to return to bargaining since the last offer was tabled on May 23.
In a written statement, LLGAMH CEO Kim Gifford said:
“We continue working to minimize disruption to our clients as much as possible during the Union’s strike. Since the strike began, we have continued providing care to our most vulnerable clients from group homes, treatment homes, and the HART Hub. We are also focused on reopening other client services soon, and we will share any updates directly with clients.
We have not received a request from the Union to return to the bargaining table since our last offer on May 23, 2026, which was rejected. There have been some misleading statements by the Union about our last offer, which I’d like to clarify.
LLGAMH received a 4% funding increase for 2026-27. We could not disclose this news earlier because the Ministry had placed it under embargo. This funding was already built into the offers we presented to the Union. Our last offer on May 23 represented an average wage increase of more than 12% over three years and reflects what can be sustained with current funding.
The Union has also raised the Bill 124 wage reopener as a concern. In June 2023, LLGAMH addressed the Bill 124 wage reopener by providing staff with 8% back pay covering the three affected years: 2021, 2022, and 2023.
LLGAMH remains open to resolving this dispute within the confines of our existing funding.
