By Doug Draper
(Publisher’s Note: This is one of those times where I started out with the idea of writing one story – in this case the labour dispute at a Niagara, Ontario humane society over plans to introduce a two-tier wage system – and could not ignore the other story which is the scarcity of funds the humane society receives from governments and other sources to provide those who work there to care for animals a livable wage.
The question that remains from both of these stories is this: Do we care enough about animals in need to properly fund the people we entrust to look after them?)
On the picket line, from left, Lincoln County Humane Society employees Sean Keating, Matthew McCalmont and Matt Huber. Photo by Doug Draper
It is a sad sign of the times for a growing number of young people entering the workforce.
You are 20-something years old, you apply for and are offered a job, only to find out that you will never be paid the same amount of money for doing the same work as someone who is already there. You are working on the bottom of what is called a “two-tier wage and benefit system” that more and more employers seem to be resorting to these days as another way to keep their costs down. Never mind that you may be coming out of school carrying a heavy debt and will be facing the same increasing costs of living as employees already working there at the higher wage.
“No two-tier workplace” is the rallying cry of about a dozen Lincoln County Humane Society employees who have been on strike since this February when talks broke down between the union representing them and managers of the St. Catharines-based shelter for animals.
“If we were to treat the animals in two different ways the public wouldn’t tolerate it,” Matt Huber, one of the striking employees, told Niagara At Large during a recent interview. “Why should we do it to the workers?”
Huber said he and his fellow striking employees not only feel it is unfair to offer new workers a lower wage and no benefits , they fear that the next time they go to negotiate a contract with the humane society, they will be pushed to accept the same. As it is, he said, full-time employees are barely making $20 an hour and part-time employees are paid about $15.
Kevin Strooband, the humane society’s executive director, said he doesn’t like having to resort to a two-tier system but the organization has no choice if it is to cope with the funding it has to work with.
“This is a charitable, not-for-profit organization,” Strooband told NAL, and “basically we are not her to create jobs. We are here to care for animals and we have to do that in a financially responsible way.”
The Lincoln County Humane Society – like others of its kind in the region and province – relies on funding from a number of sources, including the revenue it makes from adopting animals, donations from the public and grants it gets from the five municipalities it serves in Niagara region – St. Catharines, Thorold, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Lincoln and Grimsby. Receiving all the money the humane society needs to cover its costs is challenging at the best of times and these days, with the economy in the mess that it’s in, both individual donors and municipalities are finding it harder to give.
One municipality, Lincoln, has already informed Strooband and company that it can find no money in its budget for the humane society this year and how much, if any, will come from at least one or two of the others remains to be seen. It isn’t looking very promising for a humane society already finding itself about $150,000 short of the $1.3 million it needs to cover its operating budget this year.
The striking staff wonder whether that deficit and the demand for lower wages for incoming employees have been brought on by the money the humane society has spent on a new spay and neuter clinic, but Strooband said that money comes out of a separate budget.
The spay and neuter clinic is needed in an effort to reduce what Strooband describes as the tragedy of having to euthanize about 1,500 cats a year because homes cannot be found for them. And whether the money from the budget for the clinic could have been used to better compensate the humane society ‘s employees or not, it was hard walking away from Strooband inside and the employees picketing outside without coming to the conclusion that what is needed here is more public funding for this humane, front-line service.
As of this March 19, the strike was still on and Strooband continued to have mostly volunteers assisting in the care of the many animals inside.
(Niagara At Large invites you to share your views on this post in the comment boxes below. Please remember that NAL does not post anonymous comments or comments by people using pseudonyms. Only comments attached to real names are posted on this site.)
Niagara At Large 
Ever hear of Working your way up !!!!!!!!!!!!
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Which animals are those Doug? The ones the Humane Society serves up at their barbecues and fundraising dinners (cows, pigs, fish and chickens) to save and care for the other, privileged ones (cats and dogs)? The Humane Society is a misnomer – it’s really animal control. In fact, a more appropriate name would be Pet Society because that’s all they really are.
The Humane Society does nothing about animal circuses, and supports hunting and fishing, and animals in captivity for entertainment, as well as killing animals for human consumption.
“If we were to treat the animals in two different ways the public wouldn’t tolerate it,” – Matt Huber
The public already tolerates it Mr. Huber, as does your employer. We love (and protect) some animals while exploiting and killing others. Welcome to the two-tiered, treat some animals one way and all the rest another way world. A world suffering from moral schizophrenia when it comes to other species.
For the love of animals, go vegan!
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You need to distinguish between animal rights and animal welfare. Humane societies and the OSPCA is suppose to be of an unbiased mind set and is for animal welfare. Animals should be treated humanely and be cared for, but there is nothing wrong with consumption of animals as long as in that process from farm to table they are treated humanely and are not in distress. Read the OSPCA ACT and laws under the criminal code of Canada, maybe you’ll understand. There is nothing wrong with hunting, it is regulated by the MNR and RCMP. Circuses and animals for entertainment also follow same rules under the OSPCA act and must be cared for, provided food and water and clean living conditions, the bases for humane care. The OSPCA will investigate circuses and rodeos if need be, but they are not out to shut them down. You need to remember that these are by-law officers and peace-officers, they are there to enforce the laws and treat cases in a just unbiased manor. If you want to change the laws start a group or lobby, humane societies and the OSPCA are not out to take sides in every area, but are there to enforce the laws set out by the Province and Country.
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Kevin Strooband says they’re not there “to create jobs.” Guess this means he’s willing to volunteer as well so they can save his salary? I say this facetiously knowing the answer.
He also says the money for the spay and neuter clinic is coming out of a separate budget, which I’ve no doubt is technically accurate. But let’s face it the money is also coming from the same sources whether or not its in one budget or another. It’s too bad management was so focused on the good that this clinic will do and the opportunity to get federal and provincial dollars for the construction of it that they didn’t seem to stop to consider whether they’d be able to financially operate it as well as the humane society aspect.
The workers make valid points, but to be fair to Strooband, with municipalities like Lincoln cutting their funding and Thorold and St. Catharines still up in the air, this could be a long strike with the workers ultimately having to settle for a poison contract. There’s no doubt more public funding is needed, but with so many competing interests and every level of government seemingly in austerity mode, I sadly don’t see it happening anytime soon.
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while i support the workers rights to a living wage – they shouldn’t be criticizing the opening of a spay/neuter clinic … to literally save the lives of animals, intensive spay/neuter is the only way to go. Support the workers, yes, but also please support the concept of spay neuter so that the numbers of animals killed can hopefully be curtailed and stopped altogether.
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One of the reasons the HS struggles to find donations from the public, is because many of us feel that it is not being run in the manner which we would like to see. The operation of that spay/neuter clinic is desperately needed, as is a properly run TNR programme. The 70% feline kill rate must be lowered. The LCHS was awarded federal and provincial funds for what, I would assume, was to be an operating clinic. The City of St. Catharines has agreed to give $250,000 over a 5 year period. That money has not actually begun to flow yet. According to last week’s city council meeting, the city is waiting for some information from Mr. Strooband before the money will be in the shelter’s hands. The public has, in fact donated these funds through taxes. But some of us would like some accountability and transparency to be in place before donating more.
I would love to see the HS management, staff, volunteers and public work TOGETHER for the benefit of the companion animals.
I understand Daniel Wilson’s comment on the disconnect as far a loving some animals and eating others. I’m vegan; I get it. I think there is room for improvement there. But, having seen the extreme suffering of companion animals, with my own eyes, makes the welfare of these creatures very personal to me. I want the workers and the animals to be treated with dignity, respect and compassion. Please!
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This is most certainly an unhappy situation for the workers and the animals.Under the direction of Mr Strooband and his hand picked committee
the Lincoln County Humane Society is faltering for the first time in its 130 year history.
Paying new workers less and then firing the experienced workers will not improve conditions for the unfortunate stray dogs and unwanted cats that end up at the shelter. The number of resignations and firings over the past few years bear testament to the unhappy work environment. Throwing more taxpayers’ money at this problem won’t solve it. A change of attitude and actions on the part of the director and committee is what is needed here. This institution needs a more democratic structure.
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Years ago, when I was a Niagara Voice for The St. Catharines Standard, when there was a niagara voice at all anywhere, I wrote about the kill rate of the Humane Society, and need to do things otherwise, as Catherine Ens points out. I have heard some unhappy stories in the last few years about volunteer workers there. I have few answers, but perhaps someone might like to inquire of the long time city councillor Joe Kushner, if you dare. Nah, not a good idea.
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Maybe the Humane Society should consider selling the extra property they own out on 4th. If this is really a crisis some of their assets might be sold to provide salaries.
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Because an organization is formed to do good does not mean it does good in its own practices. The Lincoln County Humane Society (LCHS) needs better leadership, not more money. The LCHS receives ongoing tax payer dollars via contracts for animal control services with the communities it serves, St. Catharines, NOTL, Thorold, Grimsby and Lincoln and it also brings in donor funds. It has already received over 1M in one-time government funding for the new addition, vastly more than other humanes in the province. By comparison, the new spay/neuter clinic in Windsor that opened last Sept. received just over 10K from the city in the form of waived developement fees. It is open to the public and has completed over 1000 surgeries already.
The crisis situation at LCHS is complex; the strike, the projected deficit, the high rate of euthanasia and the new spay/neuter clinic that operates only one day a week with no public access. LCHS is a non-profit charitable organization and an AFFILIATE association of the OSPCA (not a branch of the OSPCA) which means it is governed by a LOCAL board of directors, not the OSPCA. This board has failed in its fiduciary responsibility to provide the leadership neccessary to ensure the future viability of the LCHS and, by restricting public access to the s/n clinic to appease the local veterinary community, it has also failed in its duty to further the mission of the society which includes finding “solutions…to animal overpopulation and homelessness”.
As a community, we have no say in shelter operations. The shelter manager is hired and fired by the board. Ultimately, the LCHS board of directors must bear responsibility for the miserable state of affairs at the shelter but….is accountable only to itself!
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Well Gail, I have made inquiries of Joe Kushner and all of the council, Mayor and Chairman of the Fundraising Committee for the s/n clinic, Peter Secord. Didn’t get me far, but perhaps if everyone started demanding some answers and action, we might get somewhere this time. Long shot, I know, but worth the effort, I think.
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Thanks Sheila,
I have been a long time friend and supporter of Kushner, but not about the flashier bigger-than-allowed sign the LCHS put up a couple of years ago, with Kushner’s support, and against the city Sign bylaw. To make but a mere few bucks, too. Something is rotten in Denmark/St. Catharines, and I think maybe demanding answers of council and the board is exactly the right way to go. Everyone on board. Check the Agencies, boards and commissions on the city website.
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