FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 6, 2001

Disgruntled OPAC staff take on restructuring

TORONTO – Staff of the Ontario Property Assessment Corporation have voted by a margin of more than 95 per cent to do "whatever it takes" to fight the corporation’s planned drastic restructuring.

More than 90 per cent of OPAC’s staff have been told their positions no longer exist. There will be some new positions open to competition, but those who are not successful will be terminated. The process is expected to last a full year.

Will Presley, chair of the OPSEU bargaining unit that represents most OPAC staff, called it an outrageous management move. "I’ve never seen members more disgruntled and distressed and determined to stop an assault on their jobs.

"There will be layoffs, but there are no numbers," he said. "We don’t know what the revised jobs will pay. Nobody knows what their future will look like. It has had a devastating effect on staff morale. We want our management to understand the damage it is doing," Presley said.

OPAC was divested from the Ministry of Finance at the end of 1998. It is a corporation owned jointly by the municipalities of Ontario, charged with operating the province’s property assessment system and maintaining municipal voters’ lists. It ensures that properties are assessed fairly, new construction is added to assessment rolls and complaints are resolved quickly. Since the divestment from the provincial government, more than 25 per cent of employees have lost their jobs through staff cuts.

"We will be talking to municipal officials and asking councils to demand OPAC reconsider its move," said Presley.

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For further information:

Katie FitzRandolph (OPSEU Communications) (416) 448-7440; home (416) 967-5964; e-mail: kfitzrandolph@opseu.org
Will Presley (Chair of the OPSEU bargaining unit at OPAC) – (705) 499-2213 (cell)