Vol.
3, No. 3
April 4, 2000
Check
and compare
To:
All
employees in the OPSEU and AMAPCEO bargaining units at the Ontario
Realty Corporation
From:
Jack
Haft, Chair, and Ron Wettlaufer, Vice-Chair,
Ministry Employee Relations Committee, OPSEU
Greetings:
Late last week, some of us received a package of
information from the Association of Management, Administrative, and
Professional Crown Employees of Ontario, better known as AMAPCEO.
As you may know, AMAPCEO represents middle-management
people in the Ontario Public Service (OPS). This is the only bargaining
unit AMAPCEO represents. Now, however, they want to expand. As their
correspondence shows, they are looking for a test case to help them
learn about the world outside the OPS - the world in which ORC employees
will be working after the new ORC is proclaimed as an agency.
No well-informed person would pick AMAPCEO over OPSEU
when choosing a bargaining agent. That’s why we feel the AMAPCEO
package needs a response. By splitting union supporters into two groups,
any vote for AMAPCEO could jeopardize our overall effort to win union
protection for all ORC employees. We firmly believe OPSEU is the only
choice for us.
Which organization should you support? Check and
compare….
Which is the real union?
AMAPCEO calls itself an “association,” and rightly
so. Their approach to negotiating with the government is not collective
bargaining so much as collective begging. The only bargaining
leverage they have is what they get from agreeing to serve as a bad
precedent for the employer to point to in bargaining with OPSEU.
OPSEU was born 25 years ago, when Ontario public
employees decided the old Civil Service Association of Ontario could not
help them deal with an uncertain future. They wanted a real union that
could build a public profile, negotiate good contracts for its members,
and attract new members in all areas of the public sector.
Who has the experience outside the OPS?
Of the 95,000 public sector employees OPSEU
represents, over 44,000 work outside the OPS. This includes workers in
hospitals, colleges, and a wide variety of agencies. Recently, over
1,800 employees of the old Property Assessment Division of the Ministry
of Finance decided to continue with OPSEU as their bargaining agent at
the new Ontario Property Assessment Corporation, a new agency outside
the OPS. They are bargaining a new contract right now.
AMAPCEO has zero experience outside the OPS. Do
you really want to be the first test case they practise on?
Who has the experience, period?
OPSEU has over 250 employees who, together, have
thousands of years of professional experience with collective
bargaining, grievance handling, pensions, and benefits. AMAPCEO hasn’t
even been around five years yet. It has eight staff.
Who can provide service right across Ontario?
Aside from its head office in Toronto, OPSEU has 19
regional offices across the province, from Windsor to Ottawa to Dryden.
AMAPCEO is in Toronto.
Who can do more on pensions?
After a hard-fought 20-year campaign, OPSEU won joint
trusteeship over OPS members’ pensions five years ago. The success of
the OPSEU Pension Trust (OPT) has been phenomenal. Since 1995, assets in
the Trust have grown at an average annual rate of 16.4 per cent. Current
assets now total $9 billion. In 1999, OPSEU’s success produced a $1.34
billion surplus, half of which went directly to members in the form of
better pensions (including an extended Factor 80 early retirement plan)
and a four per cent cut in pension premiums.
AMAPCEO is still stuck with the Public Service Pension
Plan, where their members’ money serves as a source of low-interest
cash for the government. And as of midnight March 31, 2000, they no
longer even have Factor 80.
If the employer attempts to move all pensions into the
PSPP, as OPSEU members we will have the option to bargain our way back
in to the OPT. If that happens, all ORC staff would have access
to the extended Factor 80 and enhanced benefits that OPSEU members in
the OPT now enjoy.
Choosing OPSEU is the only way to get the best
possible protection for your retirement income.
Who do you want bargaining for you?
AMAPCEO has just one collective agreement, compared to
the 450 OPSEU negotiates. AMAPCEO’s one contract - their OPS contract
- is a pale shadow of OPSEU’s. They actually have a clause in their
contract that says, “If the employer extends Factor 80 to other groups
within the OPS, the entitlement will be extended to AMAPCEO employees.”
This kind of “me too” approach won’t accomplish anything when you’re
no longer in the OPS and in contract negotiations with the management of
the new ORC!
But aren’t AMAPCEO’s dues lower?
OPSEU’s dues are set at 1.325 per cent of earnings.
AMAPCEO’s are at 0.85 per cent.
Of course, even 0.85 per cent is too much if you get
nothing for it. With OPSEU, 1.325 per cent gets you real protection and
representation at work. The difference on your paycheque is minimal; the
impact on your working life is huge. You get what you pay for.
Conclusion
People in Ontario join unions to get the
representation they need and the extra protection unionized workers have
under the Ontario Labour Relations Act. By now it should be obvious to
non-management ORC employees that we need a union. We think it is
equally obvious that you need the best-qualified union to represent you.
So please sign an OPSEU union card. And do it now: you
buy insurance before you need it, not after the damage is done.
As always, please feel free to contact us any time for
more information.
Sincerely,
Jack Haft
(905) 886-2161
hafts@sympatico.ca
Ron Wettlaufer
(613) 384-4117
wett@kingston.net
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