Canadian Hearing Society and union reach an agreement

Over 200 employees with the Canadian Hearing Society across Ontario will return to work from Monday May 15, following the ratification of a new contract. The group includes counsellors, audiologists, speech language pathologists, and interpreters. Program coordinators, program assistants, and information technology specialists also make up the teams working with the CHS. The announcement came 4 days after the union indicated that a tentative deal had been reached.

“I’m pleased to say that our members ratified the tentative settlement,” said Stacey Connor, President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local (CUPE Local) that represents the CHS workers, in a written release. “I’m so proud of these workers for walking the line for 10 weeks for fairness, respect and high-quality services,” she added.

The conflict had an important service approach component, along with a salary, pensions and working conditions component. The new agreement includes wage increases over the next 5 years and modest improvements to pensions. Connor also said the workers were grateful for the understanding and support they received over this time that has been difficult for the strikers, but of course also for the people and families affected by the strike. She said the CHS employees were looking forward to serving the deaf and hard-of-hearing community once again.