Come one! Come all!
LIQUOR BOARD EMPLOYEES TO LEAD OPSEU CONTINGENT AT ANNUAL PARADE
It’s that time again – time for the annual Labour Day Parade in Toronto and in other cities around the province.
The parade is a tradition that dates back 138 years to when a march was staged in support of the Toronto Typographical Union’s strike for a 58-hour work week. Since then the annual Labour Day parade has become a time-honoured tradition that is celebrated across Canada and around the world.
We invite all members of OPSEU’s Liqouor Board Employees Division to join the parade which has as its theme, “Defending Public Services.” LBED has the distinct honour of leading the OPSEU contingent after we successfully defeated the McGuinty government’s latest effort to privatize the LCBO.
The meeting place for the parade on Monday Sept. 6 will be Queen St. West and University Avenue (Osgoode TTC subway station). The march starts at 8:30 a.m.
Arrive early and get your free Labour Day T-shirt. Supplies are limited and when they’re gone they’re gone.
There will be a mobile D.J., refreshments and all parade participants will be granted free entry to the Canadian National Exhibition. If you have a mobility issue and would still like to take part in the parade please contact Region 5 Executive Board Member Derek Miller (416) 524-1668 to reserve a seat in a van.
On behalf of the Region 5 Labour Day committee and your LBED division we hope to see you at this momentous event.
- Submitted by Craig Hadley
Keep wearing those buttons!
Last autumn your anti-privatization committee unveiled its “Keep it Public” button campaign in response to the McGuinty government’s effort to partially privatize the LCBO. Thousands of buttons were circulated to liquor board employees with a request to direct the public to our OPSEU “Keep It Public” website. In addition, the anti-privatization committee organized several protests and met with MPPs at Queen’s Park to deliver our message.
Our collective effort paid off in July when the government announced it had abandoned its privatization plan. They professed that the concept – otherwise dubbed the Goldman Sach’s “Mega Corporation” – wasn’t feasible. But without publicly acknowledging it, the government killed off the plan because the public wanted no part of it. Our message was loud and clear: the “Keep It Public” campaign was supported by law enforcement agencies, health care professionals and Ontario families.
But don’t be fooled. The threat of privatizing the LCBO will always lurk in the background as successive governments look for ways to raise cash – fast. We need to stay vigilant, alert and be prepared for the next threat.
The anti-privatization committee is asking you to keep wearing those ‘Keep it Public’ buttons and always remind your friends, family and neighbours that keeping the LCBO in public hands is good for all us because of the revenues it provides for public services and for its commitment to social responsibility.
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