The Works is a long-standing harm reduction clinic and it became home to the first permanent safe injection site in Toronto in 2017.

In August, it was announced the injection site at The Works was set to close after the province moved to ban all supervised consumption sites within 200 metres of schools and childcare centres. The Works is currently located at 277 Victoria St., which is in close proximity to the Early Learning Centre in Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU) Kerr Hall West.

Yadollahi told TorontoToday the union was notified by the city about the impending layoffs two weeks ago, but the workers themselves have not yet received formal layoff notices. When CUPE79 was informed about the layoffs, the city referenced the provincial government’s decision to close supervised consumption sites as the reason for the job cuts.

Instead of laying off these workers, Yadollahi told reporters the city should move them to new positions when the safe injection site closes. “The city can redeploy workers … without eliminating their positions,” she said. “There are a lot of opportunities within public health… and I think these workers have the ability to fill in those gaps.”