Smokey Thomas calls for Helena Jaczek's resignation

The president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union wants Ontario's social services minister to resign after what he says is a second month of botched welfare and disability support payments.

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Smokey Thomas issued the call for Helena Jaczek's resignation on Tuesday when union members reported problems with pre-Christmas payments for recipients of Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program.

"They're hurting people who are down and out on their luck; who can't work through no fault of of their own; who are at the worst possible time of their lives at the worst time of the year," Thomas said. "And somehow they'd have you believe it's not as bad as we let on and so I think the minister should do the honourable thing and resign."

Thomas said the distribution of payments this month was as bad as November's when the province first installed its new software. But the government disagrees.

'Limited number of cases'

"Given the scale and complexity of the social assistance system, there are always a small number of cases where errors are made," spokesperson Amber Anderson wrote in an email to CBC News.

"The Ministry is aware of a limited number of these cases in this pay run and are working to immediately address them according to the usual process," she wrote. "Offices have clear instructions on how to handle such circumstances and ensure recipients receive the correct entitlements promptly."

Thomas said the government is "either misinformed or lying" about the scale of the problem. He said he has received more than a hundred emails from union members outlining problems. He shared several with CBC News,  including this one:

"Sudbury Office received no cheques from Toronto for pick up  as of end of day yesterday Dec 22 we still had not received our month end pick up cheques

Many calls stating DBD [direct bank deposit] payments did not go into bank account

Received notice from managers that some DBD’s [direct bank deposits] might be dated for Dec 31 instead of Dec 22 asked us to track these if we notice them

Lots of calls about shelter amount not being on the cheques"

'Heartless in the extreme'

CBC News heard similar concerns about missing cheques and mistaken bank deposits from social services offices in Fort Frances and Thunder Bay.

Thomas said the way the Liberals have handled the computer problems is "just heartless in the extreme."

He said the problems this week could ruin Christmas for thousands of people, and the backlog of work it is creating will cause further delays into the new year.

The union has filed for an injunction, asking the courts to force Ontario to return to its old social assistance software. That case is expected to be heard in January.