Lab workers elect bargaining team
February 12, 2009 OPSEU members at
the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion have
elected their first-ever bargaining team and hope to be in
negotiations with their new employer this spring. The team
was elected at the unit's final demand-setting meeting in
Toronto Feb. 7. Delegates from 12 labs attended.
OAHHP came into being in December 2008 when
the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care divested public
health labs to the new stand-alone agency.
"This is a change for our members, who will
now be bargaining under the Hospital Labour Disputes
Arbitration Act instead of the Crown Employees legislation,"
said OPSEU Negotiator Ruth Hamilton. "It's an opportunity to
negotiate a contract that is specific to the labs, and I
know the team is eager to get to the bargaining table."
Watch the OPSEU website for the team's first
bargaining bulletin.
The new OPSEU bargaining team at the
Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion, left to
right: Nino Lombardi (OPSEU Local 545), Dean Wiley (chair,
Local 545), Ellen Goslin (Local 308), Sabrina Young
(vice-chair, Local 314), Mary Morrison (Local 545), and Ruth
Hamilton (OPSEU Staff Negotiator).
OPSEU members hard at work at the Feb. 7
Final Demand-Setting Meeting.
