Gladys Whincup is losing the $1.15-an-hour job she’s had for 35 years, and she’s devastated.
Whincup’s workplace is — or was — a wastepaper sorting and disposal plant at Tunney’s Pasture where she and dozens of other developmentally disabled people have been gainfully employed disposing of copious quantities of secret and confidential federal government paper — as much as 40 per cent of it — since 1980.
As of month’s end, their workplace and sense of community and friendship will be just another empty federal government building. The group of 50 workers has been told to vacate the premises.
The Ottawa-Carleton Association for Persons with Developmental Disabilities (OCAPDD) administered the work program in a joint agreement with Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and the provincial government. The province funded the salaries of two OCAPDD staff to supervise the workers; LAC, the federal government’s clearing house for the paper, paid the honorariums.
Cumulatively, the group cost the federal government $124,600 year in honorarium payments that supplement the workers’ provincial disability payments of about $1,000 a month.
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Each honorarium is worth about $2,000 a year — or $1.15 an hour.
“We need work,” said Scott Helman, 45, who has worked at the plant for 26 years. “I like the place. I don’t think the program should die.
more with video
After 35 years, federal government takes jobs from developmentally disabled workers (with video) | Ottawa Citizen
Whincup’s workplace is — or was — a wastepaper sorting and disposal plant at Tunney’s Pasture where she and dozens of other developmentally disabled people have been gainfully employed disposing of copious quantities of secret and confidential federal government paper — as much as 40 per cent of it — since 1980.
As of month’s end, their workplace and sense of community and friendship will be just another empty federal government building. The group of 50 workers has been told to vacate the premises.
The Ottawa-Carleton Association for Persons with Developmental Disabilities (OCAPDD) administered the work program in a joint agreement with Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and the provincial government. The province funded the salaries of two OCAPDD staff to supervise the workers; LAC, the federal government’s clearing house for the paper, paid the honorariums.
Cumulatively, the group cost the federal government $124,600 year in honorarium payments that supplement the workers’ provincial disability payments of about $1,000 a month.
Advertisement
Each honorarium is worth about $2,000 a year — or $1.15 an hour.
“We need work,” said Scott Helman, 45, who has worked at the plant for 26 years. “I like the place. I don’t think the program should die.
more with video
After 35 years, federal government takes jobs from developmentally disabled workers (with video) | Ottawa Citizen
