Privatizing in the
Ministry of Transportation
The legislation:
On Thursday, May 31, Transportation Minister Brad Clark
re-introduced legislation to privatize the work of OPSEU members in
his ministry.
The new Bill 65, entitled Improving Customer Service for Road
Users Act, 2001,
is very
similar to Bill 137, the "road user safety" bill which was
introduced last fall but died on the order paper when the legislature
prorogued.
Bill 65 makes its intentions clear in its subtitle: An Act to
permit the Minister of Transportation to delegate to persons in the
private sector powers and duties and responsibilities to deliver
services relating to road user programs.
This revision of Bill 137 allows for the privatization of much of
the Ministry of Transportation. None of the minor changes strengthen
OPSEU members’ job security or enhance the provision of driver
examination or licensing and control services in Ontario.
The revised Bill allows for "sub-delegation." This means
that the successful bidder is able to contract out services. This
could result in many different employers around the province offering
driver examinations.
OPSEU action:
When the legislation was introduced, OPSEU immediately consulted
with the NDP and Liberals. There have been questions raised in the
house, in an effort to get the Tories to back off on the bill.
The MTO Ministry Employee Relations Committee (MERC) team is
aggressively pursuing issues arising from this legislation. In
particular, the MERC team is:
- Fighting for the rollover of unclassified employees who have met
or will meet the two-year mark required in the collective
agreement before the RFP is awarded. If they are successful,
unclassified members not currently eligible to "opt in"
will be able to opt in or opt out of the RFP.
- Pressing for clear timelines on the RFP process.
- Seeking clarification of the bill itself.
- Pursuing several other initiatives.
OPSEU President Leah Casselman and MERC Chair Paul Dunseith met
with Transportation Minister Brad Clark May 14 and urged him to
abandon the bill. While the minister listened, he gave no indication
of making any moves to protect our members’ interests or the
interests of the public.
What you can do:
- Please continue to talk to your friends and neighbours about the
impact of the bill. We encourage everyone to call Brad Clark at
416-325-8411 and Premier Mike Harris at 416-325-1941 to voice their
opposition to this bill.
- Please download the petition on the MTO Campaign Section of the
website. It’s at http://www.opseu.org/campaign/mtopetition.pdf.
Please sign it, and circulate as widely as possible. Return signed
petitions to OPSEU head office by Friday June 15. This is an urgent
appeal.
MTO
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