Who Is Fighting for Social Workers?
An Inquiry to CASW
OCSWSSW began e-mailing college fee reminders to social workers since the beginning of November. A full two months before the official due date of December 31. Given the underwhelming response from the college regarding Israel/Palestine, I have begun to dissect the purpose of the college, beyond being a regulatory body. As I have started on this journey, it has come to my attention that there are four (so far), associations related to social work in Ontario. Each of these associations appear to have different focuses. Each of these associations has a different fee. Each of these associations has overlap with the other and is cumulatively made up of thousands of social workers.
International Federation of Social Workers: Global promotion of social work and social work best practices on a global level. IFSW has been granted Special Consultative Status by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). In addition, IFSW is working with the World Health Organization (WHO), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Annual membership fee: $253 USD.
Ontario Association of Social Workers: Learning opportunities, discounted private practice insurance, provincial advocacy on a legislative level related to; promotion of social work profession, creating and expanding opportunities and remove barriers for social workers and the clients they serve, increase access to health, mental health, addictions and social supports for all Ontarians, advance policies that help individuals, families and communities thrive. Annual membership fee: $309 CAD.
Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers: Regulatory board, investigations of social workers, education and continued education policies and practices. Annual membership fee: $400 CAD.
Canadian Association of Social Workers: CASW promotes the profession of social work in Canada and advances social justice. Is associated with the IFSW. Does advocacy aligned with Canadian Health Act, Rights of Indigenous People and Social Work Code of Ethics. Annual membership fee: $50 CAD.
Despite the fact that each of these organizations promotes social work and social advocacy, it appears that none of these organizations advocate specifically for the social workers who they represent and who financially support their existence. Their primary focus appears to be the general public. The OCSWSSW role appears to be that of a regulatory body only, with the focus being to investigate social workers and place responsibility on individual social workers to abide by the rules and regulations of the college. The limited advocacy they partake in, is limited to education of social workers and staff and otherwise performative actions.
Social workers are expected, as per the OCSWSSW and OASW to partake in social justice actions. However, they are not supported in doing so. Social workers are often independent contractors, are part-time employees or work in the non-profit sector and therefore, get paid very little and do not have access to pension plans or health benefits. Often times, social workers are experiencing income insecurity and mental health challenges that they do not have a safety net to protect them against. Many social workers are not a part of unions and any advocacy and social justice they partake in, often comes at a personal cost.
My question is: As these organizations expect social workers to fight for social justice, who is fighting for the social workers?
On November 18, I wrote an e-mail to the CASW (inserted below). I received a response to book a virtual meeting with the Executive Director and will be doing so.
To read about the OCSWSSW and OASW response to Palestine/Israel - click here.
To read about the struggles of being a social worker with an MSW in Ontario - click here.
Good Afternoon,
I am hoping someone from CASW may be able to clarify some questions I have regarding social workers, social justice and advocacy for the public in Ontario. If this is not the correct avenue for these questions, any guidance to where they may be directed would be appreciated.
Given the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, I reached out to the OCSWSSW and OASW inquiring why no public statement had been made in regards to the situation. OASW replied stating that they are affiliated with CASW and therefore, the statements made by CASW reflect the opinions of OASW. They forwarded me a link to the statement made by CASW on the matter.
Unfortunately, the response I received from OCSWSSW was extremely disheartening. They responded stating that their mandate does not involve international issues and that they are focused on provincial issues such as working with First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities. They further stated that it is within their mandate to support social workers in taking part in social justice as individuals by providing resources on different topics - they then forwarded me information on working with the Jewish community, which led to a dialogue about their support appearing to be one sided and them acknowledging this error on their end.
Given the direction of the political situation in the United States and soon to be Canada, with the election of a far right leaning conservative government within our near future, I am curious which association is engaging in legislative lobbying for social justice issues in Ontario. Not only for the general welfare of the public, but also to support the social workers who do much of this ground work.
I continue to be frustrated by the fact that:
- Many social workers are independent contractors and do not have access to benefits, mental health support, pension plans, sick time or any other form of protection from experiencing poverty and income insecurity while simultaneously being expected by the College to advocate for social justice issues.
- There are approximately 30,000 members of the OCSWSSW who pay upwards of $400/year to this college - this is a vast amount of people and a clear avenue for government legislative lobbying that is not being utilized. This feels like a conflict to the values of social work.
- We as social workers, also pay into the OASW in order to receive insurance coverage for our private practices as independent contractors. The insurance company used (Prolink), refuses to cover social workers who are diagnosed with mental health conditions for health insurance. Again, this seems like a missed opportunity by OASW to advocate for social workers given the thousands of members and therefore, immense funds that are streamlined into Prolink.
I am seeking to understand which organizations associated with Social Workers in Ontario and Canada are doing any provincial or federal government lobbying. Why are there three different bodies associated with Social Workers? Why are social workers paying fees to associations and colleges that are not providing us with the support to advocate for social justice, as is mandated by the college requirements? We are expected to fight for the public good, yet there is no organization fighting for us.
With the thousands of members and dollars these associations have, I am expecting more than they are providing, which in comparison is minimal.
Any guidance or clarification regarding these inquiries would be appreciated,
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Jessica del Rosso
Photo by LOGAN WEAVER | @LGNWVR on Unsplash