Oxfam Canada · Executive Director
Lauren Ravon
The hypocrisy has a name. And it starts at the top.
Oxfam Canada built its name fighting inequality. Today its own workers are on strike against it. CUPE 2722 members say the person most responsible for the breakdown sits at the very top.
Paid Like a CEO.
By the union's account, Lauren Ravon is the highest-paid Executive Director in Oxfam Canada's history. Public filings compiled by Charity Intelligence Canada put the Executive Director's compensation at roughly $200,000 a year, while the staff who do the work were told a modest cost-of-living raise was simply unaffordable.
Compensation figures sourced from Charity Intelligence Canada.
Executive Director
~$200K
Highest in Oxfam Canada history
Surplus sent abroad
~$500K
To Oxfam International, earned by the staff she refused to pay
Half a Million Out the Door.
Workers say roughly half a million dollars of Oxfam Canada's surplus (surplus they generated) was sent up to Oxfam International: a shiny medal to wear in the international community. The same leadership then sat across the table from the people who earned it and said there was no money for fair wages.
Generous with the credit. Stingy with the people.
A Relationship in Ruins.
Staff describe this as the worst the relationship between employees and senior leadership has ever been in Oxfam Canada's history. Not a rough patch. A first. An NGO that preaches solidarity to the world has lost the trust of the very people who carry out its mission.
The Mask Slips.
"The empathy felt real, until it was time to actually do something for us."
This is not a corporation chasing a margin. It is a humanitarian organization stepping away from its own principles. Workers say the warmth in the all-staff emails and the care in face-to-face meetings evaporated the moment it actually counted, leaving behind a mask of empathy and a leader they feel stopped listening.
Meanwhile…
CUPE 2722 members are on the line in the sun and the rain outside Oxfam Canada's Ottawa head office. For the Executive Director, the days carry on as usual: comfortably, in Quebec, far from the noise. On a salary near $200,000, comfort is easy.
The Staff
Picketing in the heat & rain, Ottawa
The Executive Director
Comfortable & quiet, Quebec
Lauren, Practice What You Preach.
Return to the table. Pay the people who earned the surplus. Be the leader Oxfam tells the world it stands for.