FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 27, 2000
95,000 OPSEU members on alert:
Harris needs another fight to divert attention from his failures
Premier Mike Harris will launch an attack on organized labour in
order to divert public attention away from his government's failure to
provide adequate water quality, health care, good roads and other
basic public services to Ontarians, the Ontario Public Service
Employees Union warns.
OPSEU President Leah Casselman says the Tory government is spoiling
for a fight with the working people of Ontario if it tries to enact
sweeping rollbacks to labour laws contained in a policy paper now
being circulated to the province's employers.
"These proposals come directly from the Premier's office as a
diversionary tactic designed to take the pressure off them as we head
into the Walkerton Inquiry this fall," Casselman said.
"Harris knows Ontario workers will have no choice but to do
whatever it takes to protect the labour rights won through more than
50 years of labour struggle," she said, predicting a return to
the days of intense labour unrest.
"We are alerting all our members that these changes will have
profound effects on our ability to organize, negotiate and enforce our
union contracts," Casselman said. "We are telling them to be
prepared for the worst."
She noted that the Tories did not circulate the proposals to
workers or unions -- not even to its own Labour Relations Board -- but
only to employer groups. This shows the government is committed to
reducing workers' pay and benefits, not "enhancing worker
democracy" as the proposals are titled.
In 1991, OPSEU won a landmark Supreme Court of Canada case against
the anti-union National Citizens' Coalition that affirmed union rights
to campaign for social causes.
"Further weakening of union rights to advocate for better
services and defend members interests will lead to a lower standard of
living for all working Ontarians," Casselman said.
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For further information: Paul Bilodeau 416/443-8888
