2000s

2003

•  An outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) puzzles the public health system, puts thousands in quarantine. Health care workers demand information to protect themselves from the previously unknown disease and hospitals change operating procedures to curb transfer of infection. A second SARS outbreak hits in May as hospital funding cuts have forced the layoff of 36 hospital professionals including those handling screening for SARS.

•  OPSEU adopts the fight against HIV/AIDS as its major charitable activity. It establishes a Live and Let Live Fund which will raise money to alleviate the suffering. Three quarters will go to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa through the Stephen Lewis Foundation, and a quarter will be spent on community efforts in Ontario.

•  OPSEU organizes a series of public forums to discuss the future of mental health services.  (Right) On Feb. 13, hospital professionals at 40 hospitals launch a job action called a Hospital Emergency Day of Action to back bargaining deamnds. Three major hospitals agree to OPSEU's proposal and urge the Ontario Hospital Association to move. The day after the protest, the OHA agrees to the union's arbitration process. This is the first such action by the hospital group, who are denied the right to strike under the Hospital Labour Disputes Arbitration Act.

•  Leah Casselman is elected to a record fifth term as OPSEU president.

•  The Stanley Knowles award is presented to Botswana Health Minister Joy Phumaphi, who is deeply involved in the fight against HIA/AIDS.

•  College faculty reject a management offer by 98 per cent. Issues include the workload formula and the quality of training and education the colleges offer.

•  Members providing security at Casino Niagara reach a tentative agreement on a first contract, just 90 minutes before a strike deadline.

•  The province admits it has a staffing crisis at ambulance dispatch centres. It operates 12 of the 20 dispatch centres and funds the other eight which are operated by hospitals or municipalities.

•  The union's work on racism in corrections is, in part, behind a Board of Inquiry demand that a decision on racism in corrections be distributed to all employees of the ministry. For several years, OPSEU has spearheaded a program to create systemic change in a ministry rife with sexism, racism and harassment.

•  The Charter of Rights and Freedoms challenge on pay equity produces a landmark $414 million settlement for about 100,000 women in mainly female public sector workplaces. The case was launched in 2001.

•  Locked-out workers at Kennedy House get a tentative agreement on July 15, more than a year after the dispute began. However, the operation is closed down and they never return to work.

•  OPSEU makes meat inspection a provincial election issue after seven years of cuts to the inspectorate. News that a packing plant in Aylmer had processed meat not fit for human consumption accentuates the threat.

•  OPSEU wins a Supreme Court case backing the human rights of a probationary employee to return to her job after maternity leave.

•  In the October provincial election, a Liberal government headed by Premier Dalton McGuinty replaces Ernie Eves' Tories. OPSEU had worked hard on the election, supporting NDP and Liberal candidates with staff and money, to defeat the Conservatives. OPSEU heralds the result as an opportunity to start rebuilding public services.

•  Ambulance paramedics in Owen Sound beat back the idea of “firemedics” where their work would be rolled into the work of the fire department.

2004 

• OPSEU and CUPE call on the new Liberal government to clean up the mess in CASs. They point to deficiencies in services to children in care, salaries, workload, travel costs and information technology.

•  OPSEU continues the fight against Public Private Partnerships (P3s) as a way of financing hospitals and other public services. The union criticizes the secrecy surrounding the contracts and the lack of accountability.

•  Convention creates a Provincial Youth Committee, similar to the women's and human rights ones. This recognizes that young people must be brought into the labour movement, and the labour movement must reach out to them on their terms.

•  Correctional Officers in the private jail in Penetanguishene reject a contract offer by 99 per cent. They want parity with provincial COs. They reject a second offer before finally ratifying a first contract which provides a solid base for future negotiations.

•  Shirin Ebadi, an Iraqi human rights activist and lawyer, receives the Stanley Knowles Award.

•  Casselman calls on the government to restore taxation to rebuild public services. The province has a revenue problem, not a spending problem, she said. The first McGuinty Liberal budget introduces a new “health premium,” but it is a regressive tax, with the wealthy paying less than their fair share.

•  OPSEU tells the review of meat inspection that inspectors need the same kind of backup from management that police officers have on the front lines. The union wants more training, more inspectors and publication of the enforcement records for all provincially-inspected abattoirs.

•  Staff at Kinark, the new private operator at Syl Apps Youth Centre, vote nearly 92 per cent to strike. Talks break down and the 145 workers strike on April 14. They finally get a settlement Dec. 1.

•  Niagara College cafeteria workers end a 21-day strike after ratifying a deal with Aramark Canada Ltd. They win a 12.6-per-cent increase over three years.

•  Mr. Justice Archie Campbell's interim report on the SARS crisis echoes the union's warnings about cuts to public health and the health care system. It calls for strengthening the role of health care workers (not just doctors and nurses) and their unions in protecting public health; renewing and properly funding public health; and putting accountability, direction and control in the hands of the province.

•  OPSEU wins a representation vote at the Ottawa Hospital, where about 2,000 diagnostic, therapeutic and rehabilitation professionals reject an attempted raid by the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada. Later an arbitrator orders wage increases of seven to 17 per cent over three years, making them the highest paid hospital professionals in the region.

•  More than 100 Niagara area nurses lose their jobs when the VON loses the bid to continue providing home care in the area as it has for 85 years. OPSEU condemns the “managed competition” model for bidding which meant the VON never had a chance to succeed. OPSEU calls on Health Minister George Smitherman to suspend the new Niagara contract pending a review. He declines, but appoints former health minister Elinor Caplan to review the competitive bidding process.

•  OPSEU donates $10,000 toward disaster relief after Peterborough is hit by unexpected flooding.

•  The union opposes the planned closure of regional centres for those with developmental disabilities in Smiths Falls, Orillia and Blenheim.

•  OPSEU donates $50,000 to the Stephen Lewis Foundation as part of its commitment to alleviate the scourge of HIV/AIDS in Africa.

•  OPSEU hosts a conference on Building Links for Better Mental Health in early November. It draws staff, consumers/survivors and family members to share information and discuss issues in mental health.

•  The union creates OPSEUdirect, a “resource centre” in an effort to better respond to members' inquiries.

These Sudbury members were among more than 5,000 hospital professionals who staged a province-wide walkout on Feb. 13, 2003, to protest staff shortages.

NDP Leader Jack Layton addresses the 2004 OPSEU Convention during the Federal election campaign.