FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 4, 2001

Court awards severance pay to former OPS employees in Brockville, Hamilton

TORONTO: The cost of the Ontario government’s download keeps going up.

More than 1,000 employees at the Hamilton and Brockville psychiatric hospitals will receive a grievance settlement that could cost the government $700,000 in severance pay, as a result of a Divisional Court decision. On Oct. 1, the court upheld the Grievance Settlement Board in granting severance to employees divested from the Ontario Public Service (OPS) with 1-5 years of service.

Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) President Leah Casselman said “I’m encouraged that our members will finally receive this severance they have worked and fought hard for. It shows the value of a strong collective agreement and a strong union in our struggles against an employer who is going to great lengths to deny workers their due.”

“It’s another example of the folly and the cost of the Harris government’s divestment scheme, and its ham-fisted mismanagement of taxpayers money” she said.

OPS employees at the Hamilton and Brockville psychiatric hospitals had been offered positions with local hospitals under the divestment plan. The government argued that employees with 1-5 years of seniority did not qualify for severance pay under the OPS Collective Agreement. OPSEU filed a grievance and won. The decision granted severance pay to these employees whether or not they accepted the new job offer.

OPS employees whose positions are divested, including those in other psychiatric hospitals, may also benefit from this ruling.

-30-

For more information, please contact:

David Cox, OPSEU Communications, 416-443-8888 x 314