OR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 28, 2001

MEDIA ADVISORY

Protest demands public hearings on Bill 25

TORONTO - Members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union will rally at Queen’s Park May 30 to demand public hearings into Bill 25.

Date: Wednesday, May 30, 2001
Time: 12:00 noon - 1:15 p.m.
Place: Main Legislative Building, Queen’s Park, Toronto

“Bill 25 changes the governance of an institution that spends 64 billion dollars a year in public money,” said Leah Casselman, president of OPSEU. “The Conservative government has deliberately dodged public scrutiny of this Bill by holding Second Reading at night, after most reporters have gone home. It’s time these proposals saw the light of day.”

If enacted, Bill 25 would change the Public Service Act to give private operators control over large parts of the Ontario Public Service. It would allow the delegation of certain Cabinet-level powers to private individuals. It would help destroy hundreds of permanent jobs in the public service and replace them with contract positions. It would allow the sharing of public employees’ personal information with private operators. It would over-ride the Ontario Labour Relations Act to give the Ontario Provincial Police Association the opportunity to absorb over 2,500 OPSEU members.

A concise summary of Bill 25 is available on the OPSEU web site at http://www.opseu.org/campaign/bill25.htm.

Casselman will be joined at the rally by Marg Simmons, newly-elected chair of the OPSEU bargaining team in the OPS. The collective agreement of some 45,000 OPSEU members in the OPS expires Dec. 31, 2001.

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