The Ontario government could settle its public service strike in 48 hours if it told its management team to negotiate in good faith, the president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union said tonight.
Leah Casselman was reacting to a leaked Management Board memo to its managers that said there had been “little progress” in the talks, and the strike could continue for “two or three weeks”.
OPSEU and Management Board negotiators have been negotiating for 10 days to end the strike by 45,000 Ontario government employees.
“This strike could be settled in 48 hours if the government would give its negotiators the Ernie Eves mandate rather than the Mike Harris mandate,” Casselman said. “We’re putting our wages on the line to save public services in this province, but what has this government put on the table?”
“We’ve got temporary workers in the courts who’ve worked 14 years on short-term contracts. They’re deemed to be essential workers during this strike, but the government says they’re not essential enough to get paid a decent wage,” she said.
“Even after a month, the government is still demanding concessions from OPSEU on benefits and attempting to dictate control over the employees’ share of the OPSEU pension plan,” she added.
Casselman noted that managers are each being paid more than $1,000 a day to run the province’s jails during the strike.
“What a waste of taxpayers’ money.” she said
-30-
For further information: OPSEU Communications:
Katie Fitzrandolph: 416/443-8888 ext 440
Randy Robinson 416/443-8888 ext 441
