Artscape employees who were abruptly dismissed following the Toronto based non-profit’s announcement that it had gone into receivership are demanding they be included in talks about the future of the business.
Twenty-five former Artscape workers have penned a letter addressed to Mayor Olivia Chow, Councillor Gord Perks, the Artscape Inc. Board of Directors, and TD Bank outlining a set of conditions including that their legal right to receive a redundancy package be met.
“We are the Artscape workers cast into precarity because of its forthcoming receivership,” they said, stating that their jobs had been eliminated without notice and that Artscape has yet to pay them what they are entitled to by law.
“Artscape’s mismanagement led to egregious levels of debt that have brought us to the situation we face today,” the letter stated.
Former staff claim that Artscape was aware of its impending receivership, and that given its substantial receipt of public funding, development fees and corporate structure there is no reason that the organization should not pay those laid off due to receivership.
“The workers maintain that the circumstances leading to Artscape’s current state were exacerbated by management decisions that ultimately resulted in significant debt accumulation,” Artscape Workers United, the group representing the interests of former staff, said in a press release.
“Collectively, we have devoted decades of expertise and energy into the organization, we perform(ed) essential work while watching those in charge make risky and unaccountable decisions. Many of us offered warnings, to little avail,” the letter said.
The former employees also expressed concern for the future of Toronto’s arts spaces, the people who regularly rely on them, and for the array of services uptaken by residents, visitors, and users regularly engaged with Artscape properties.
The 25 individuals who signed the letter have made the following requests:
- Ensure our fair and quick compensation. Provide workers with termination pay in the amount of two months of wages per year worked, as well as vacation and time in lieu.
- Give former workers priority when re-hiring. Whatever new ownership entity or restructuring model emerges, ensure that ex-Artscape employees receive priority in hiring/re-hiring.
- Keep public spaces out of private hands. Preserve the spaces and hubs for artists to live and work while ensuring these buildings are not lost to the private, speculative real-estate market.
- Give workers a say. Invite us into discussions about Artscape’s future and assets. In the event that Artscape continues its operations, provide employees with greater operational and administrative control of the organization.
- Meet with us. We are demanding a meeting with Olivia Chow, Gord Perks, and representatives of the City to discuss the above demands.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Artscape called its financial situation critical, saying that while they navigate talks with stakeholders to find solutions the operation is running with a skeleton crew of staff.
“We are disappointed and sorry about the situation and for the stress and impact to staff. We have done our best to ensure all staff have been adequately compensated for the time they have worked,” the statement said.
