Rebuild strike fund, delegates say
Convention delegates have confirmed a commitment to rebuilding OPSEU’s depleted strike fund.
“This vote makes it clear that our convention delegates don’t want to see any of their brothers or sisters going into bargaining without the backing of a strong strike fund,” said President Leah Casselman.
“I respect the decision greatly, because it is not going to be easy to pay a little more in union dues for people who have just been through eight weeks on strike pay. It makes the commitment that much more significant.”
At the 2002 Convention, delegates were asked to consult with their members in their locals about how to go about rebuilding the fund following the eight-week strike by members in the Ontario Public Service.
After consultation, delegates were to vote by mail ballot. The deadline for ballots to reach head office was June 3. The ballots have been counted (288 in favour and 77 against), and the result is a temporary dues levy of 0.2 per cent, to go directly to the strike fund. As this is a constitutional amendment, it required a two
thirds majority to carry.
It sets in place an automatic temporary levy whenever the strike fund dips below $30 million. The temporary levy stays in effect until the fund is back up to $30 million.
At the start of the OPS strike, the strike fund sat at $27 million, but by the end of the strike, the fund was depleted.
Interest free loans from other unions, including the National Union of Public and General Employees and the United Steelworkers of America, must also be repaid.
While the 45,000-member OPS bargaining unit has a contract that runs until the end of 2004, there are three other large units which will be in bargaining in 2003. They are the 7,500 members of community college faculty, the 6,000 college support staff group, and the 1,800 members who work for the Municipal Property Assessment
Corporation.
The levy will take effect June 15. For someone earning $36,000 a year, it amounts to less than twenty cents a day, or about a cup of coffee a week.
Kennedy House has tentative settlement
After almost a year on the picket line, members of Local 361 have a tentative agreement.
The settlement to the lengthy lockout came on Friday. Staff of the young offender facility in Uxbridge, formerly St. John’s Training School, were locked out June 23, 2001.
Charlie Bryans, president of Local 361, said no information would be available until a ratification meeting scheduled for Thursday.
Implement Walkerton recommendations
OPSEU has called on the Ontario government to implement the latest recommendations of the Walkerton Inquiry.
“We are pleased that Mr. Justice Dennis O’Connor has recognized that government has a non-transferable obligation to protect the safety of Ontario’s drinking water,” said Mike Ladouceur, chief steward for the union at the Ministry of Environment in Kingston and a member of the union’s Walkerton project team. “We want to see
action now.”
The union is calling on Environment and Energy Minister Chris Stockwell to put forward an implementation plan that includes:
• monitoring implementation of the recommendations;
• in-depth consultation with front-line workers;
• continuation of “whistleblower” protection for public employees involved in the process; and
• a transparent process that is open to scrutiny by the public and the news media.
“The Walkerton Inquiry shone the light of day onto the workings of the Ministry of Environment,” said Ladouceur. “The implementation of the report should be just as open.”
OPSEU ActionFax is an electronic publication of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union. Original authorized for distribution by Leah Casselman, president.
