BPS structure gives members a solid voice
The Broader Public Service (BPS) is an active and growing part of OPSEU’s membership.
It covers a wide range of agencies and organizations that operate under their own boards of directors, funded in large part by the provincial government, offering many different kinds of services.
Work that has been divested from the OPS forms a relatively new portion of the BPS membership.
Within the BPS, people are organized into sectors - such as health care, Children’s Aid Societies, correctional centres, legal services and so on.
Sectoral organization
This sectoral structure gives members who share similar kinds of work, and who work for similar organizations, an opportunity within the union to share experiences and develop coherent strategies for collective bargaining. It also lets them bring their collective voice to other issues which affect the work of their
sector.
One of the most active sectors is Property Assessment. Its members work for the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation which was divested from the Ministry of Finance. It has about 1,600 members organized into one province-wide bargaining unit, although its members are assigned to locals in their own communities.
Similar to MPAC
What happened to members in MPAC is similar to what is happening to Driver Examination work. As with property assessment, your work is being divested from the OPS. And as with MPAC, the work is going to one employer, offering its services right across the province. Again, as with
members in property assessment, OPSEU is approaching you to sign union cards so that you can retain union representation when you move to the new employer.
The sectoral structure of the BPS offers several advantages over being part of the OPS. For one thing, sectors are smaller and more specific. Within the BPS sectoral system, Driver Examiner issues would not have to go up against all the other issues arising in a large
organization like the OPS to become high priority.
Take a look at the OPSEU website, and look at the BPS sectors. It will give you a good idea of how the structure works for members in many different workplaces.
This newsletter
Please forward this newsletter to as many of your colleagues as possible. it may be their only source for the “straight goods” on Serco so they can make an informed decision about their future. Let us know what you want to see in future issues. To receive it by e-mail, send your e-mail address to
dcox@opseu.org .
Contact OPSEU
Organizing: Contact OPSEU at 1-800-268-7376. Organizers for the DEC campaign are Paul Dunseith at ext.355 pdunseith@opseu.org, Ed Ogibowski at ext. 362, Connie Huziak at ext. 327 and Stefan Michnowiec
at (416) 405-0050.
Your Job Security Officer is: Judith Marion, OPSEU x 370 jmarion@opseu.org
Your Reasonable Efforts Committee is: John O’Brien, Hm. (807)-628-8066; cell (807)-628-4364; jobrien2@tbaytel.net ; Gail Kreutzkamp home (519)-742-4017;
gailkreutzkamp@hotmail.com; Stephan Michnowiec, pager, 416-405-0050
Your MERC Team is: John O’Brien (as above), Serge Valcourt (705) 472-7900 x 6490, Robert Houston (519) 372-4045, Peggy Maybury (416) 235-4218. Or contact your Staff Representative or the steward in your workplace.
DEC Notes is published as a regular update for OPSEU staff in Driver Examiner Centres. More information on the government’s planned transfer of services can be viewed at:
http://www.opseu.org/campaign/mtooindex.htm on the OPSEU web site.
Authorized for Distribution:
Leah Casselman, President
