FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 1, 2000
Property assessment
staff sign tentative agreement
TORONTO - The Ontario Public Service
Employees Union has signed a tentative collective agreement covering
1,900 staff at the Ontario Property Assessment Corporation (OPAC).
Key improvements for union members
include:
- wage hikes of 2, 2, and 3 per cent
in consecutive years of a contract that expires Dec. 31, 2002;
- a $750 signing bonus;
- benefit improvements for dental care
and eyeglasses;
- time off for union business;
- an Employee Assistance Program
enshrined in the collective agreement; and
- conversion of contract employees to
full-time status after two years, effective on date of
ratification.
The contract also wins recognition of
seniority for employees, including those divested from the Ontario
Ministry of Finance when OPAC was created on Jan. 1, 1999.
OPSEU president Leah Casselman
congratulated the bargaining team and members of the bargaining unit
for their hard work leading up to the deal, which the team is
unanimously endorsing. A ratification vote will be held by May 10.
“If the members see fit to ratify
this agreement, it will complete an important transition,” said Leah
Casselman, president of OPSEU. “Over the last three years, we have
lobbied to keep property assessment united under one organization, we
have lost our collective agreement through Tory changes to the law, we
have re-organized our members, and we have negotiated a very
respectable collective agreement.
“I think our members have shown a
real commitment to moving forward and making progress in the midst of
very stressful change.”
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For more information:
Leah Casselman (416)
443-8888 ext. 300
Randy Robinson (416) 448-7441; (416) 315-2982
