KITCHENER - CAW Local 1106 members employed at Sunbeam Residential Development Centre in Kitchener will stage their fourth demonstration in two and a half months outside of the main building of the centre later today as no meaningful progress has been made in negotiations, said CAW national representative Bill Gibson.

CAW Local 1106 Demonstration - June 25, 2009

Sunbeam Residential Development Centre - 3:00-5:00pm (Outside of the centre's main building) Where: 2749 Kingsway Drive Kitchener, Ontario

The employer's attempt to download the administration of replacement staff for sick days and vacation time to front line care-givers is the major stumbling block in these negotiations, a move that would reduce the amount of time devoted to direct patient care said CAW National Representative Bill Gibson.

"In some cases, this additional administrative work can take away as much as three hours of hands-on care for patients each day," said Gibson. "Our members believe this is a managerial task that should be performed by managers, not those responsible for providing direct care." "We do not accept the logic that administrative costs have to be cut at the expense of patient care," Gibson said.

Workers at Sunbeam Residential Development Centre provide residential care and day programming for developmentally challenged individuals with physical and emotional impairments in the Waterloo Region. Negotiations have been stalled since breaking down in April after Sunbeam management attempted to shift more administrative tasks onto the workers who are responsible for the direct care of clients. The CAW represents 130 workers at Sunbeam. The current contract expired on March 31, 2009.