FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 16, 2001

OPPA stands for “Ontario Political Payoff Act”: Casselman

TORONTO - A new law being debated at Queen’s Park gives the Ontario Provincial Police Association preferential treatment in its bid to steal 2,500 members from the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, union president Leah Casselman says.

Bill 25, the Public Service Statute Law Amendment Act, gives civilian employees of the Ontario Provincial Police, currently public service employees, a one-time opportunity to vote to join the Ontario Provincial Police Association (OPPA). As written, the law overrides key provisions of the Ontario Labour Relations Act (OLRA).

“We do representation votes all the time, but not under biased rules that give one bargaining agent the inside track,” Casselman said. “This certainly looks like a payoff to the OPPA for services rendered. That’s why some OPSEU members are calling Bill 25 ‘the Ontario Political Payoff Act.’”

Under the OLRA, any group applying to represent a new group of workers must be a union. The OPPA is not a union; under the Public Service Act, it cannot be. The Ontario Labour Relations Board has jurisdiction over the size and shape of bargaining units, and normally requires unions to organize all workers in an existing bargaining unit. Bill 25 exempts the OPPA from this and carves a 2,500-person chunk out of the existing Ontario Public Service unit represented by OPSEU.

OPSEU is calling for public hearings into Bill 25.

“The Public Service Act is a key piece of legislation that governs one of the most important institutions in our society,” said Casselman. “It is inconceivable that a law that changes it could be passed without consulting the people it serves - the Ontario public.”

- 30 -

For more information: Randy Robinson (416) 448-7441