Good morning. Thank you for coming.
We’ve invited you here today because the 255 unionized
staff of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan are on strike.
We want to tell you who we are. And we want to tell you
why we are on strike.
We are the men and women who run OTPP operations on a
daily basis. We assist with investments. We handle questions from
264,000 plan members and provide them with detailed, specific answers
and advice related to their own pensions. We keep the OTPP’s computer
systems running, and we provide administrative support to every aspect
of the operation.
There is no dispute about the quality of the service we
provide. Year after year, the OTPP brags about the quality of our
service, and year after year, plan members give us an outstanding
score. In 2005, plan members gave us a score of 9.2 out of 10 on the
OTPP’s Quality Service Index.
We also play a role in the investment success of the
Plan. As you know, the OTPP earned a return on investment of $14.1
billion in 2005. Our work played a role in that success, as it has
played a role in the success of the plan over the last 16 years.
There is just one small problem in all this. While the
OTPP likes to brag about how good our service is, plan management
refuses to recognize the value of our contribution where it matters
most, namely, at the bargaining table.
It has been many months since negotiations for this
contract began, but talks have basically been stuck in the same place
since November.
There are really two sticking points:
·
One, the
OTPP wants to allot a portion of staff pay to individuals based on
management whim.
·
Two, the
OTPP wants to increase the length of our work week.
These are two proposals that our sisters and brothers
in Ontario’s teachers’ unions would never agree to. Not in a hundred
years.
Plan management has made no case that explains why
either of these measures is necessary. That is because they are not
necessary, especially under the current circumstances.
What are those circumstances? Well, the first
circumstance is that Claude Lamoureux, the president and CEO of the
OTPP, was paid 5.54 million dollars last year.
I want to put that number into perspective. 5.54
million dollars is the amount earned in 2005 by one hundred of
our members.
5.54 million dollars is more than any of our members
will make in their entire lives, including whatever pension they may
earn before they die.
Clearly, if the plan can afford to pay 5.54 million
dollars to one individual, money is not the issue here.
Claude Lamoureux has claimed that our members are
well-paid compared to staff at other pension plans.
If Claude really believes that we are well paid, then
the fact that we are on strike should make it clear to him that the
strike is about something other than wages.
And it is.
We are on strike because we believe that Claude
Lamoureux must negotiate, not dictate, the terms and conditions of
work of his staff.
We are on strike because we make a huge contribution to
the success of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, and we want our
employer to recognize our contribution.
That’s all we want.
We are being extremely reasonable here.
When it became clear that our employer would not
negotiate, we offered to settle the remaining issues through binding
arbitration.
Our employer refused. Claude Lamoureux refused.
As of this morning, Claude Lamoureux is not interested
in a fair settlement to this dispute.
His agenda is plain old-fashioned union-busting.
Last week, Claude sent a letter to all employees. The
purpose of the letter was to invite workers to scab their own jobs in
the event of a strike.
Once again, we have to wonder what teachers and their
unions must think about an employer who thinks it is okay to use scabs
during a work stoppage.
As a general rule, teachers and teachers’ unions do not
support the use of scabs. I am sure they feel even less enthusiasm
about paying scabs with their own money.
Even Dalton McGuinty, the other co-sponsor of the plan,
promised in 2003 that he would not use scabs if his own employees went
on strike.
So we have a boss, Claude Lamoureux, who is committed
to using scabs even though the people who pay him take a dim view of
scabs.
Someone has to hold this man accountable.
By being out on the picket line here today, we are
doing our part.
Of course, there is another group of people who can do
much, much more. I am talking about the 264,000 teachers and
pensioners who are members of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
We are asking them, each and every one, to call Claude
Lamoureux and tell him that since they are paying his
stupendous salary, they expect him to act according to their
values. And that means negotiating in good faith with his own
employees.
I would be happy to answer your questions now.
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Index
