FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 25, 2002
OPSEU applies for conciliation as government balks at rebuilding the public service
TORONTO - Ontario government employees have applied for conciliation in a bid to get their employer to bargain a stronger public service.
“We are surprised to have to take this step so soon after the Walkerton Inquiry report,” said Leah Casselman, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union. “By now it should be obvious to anyone that, after six-and-a-half years of cuts, layoffs, privatization, and high-level mismanagement, it is time to rebuild the public service and restore its
ability to protect public safety and the public interest.
“Our proposals at the bargaining table will help do that, but first we have to get the government to listen. Hopefully conciliation will help make it happen.”
Under Ontario labour law, either party may terminate conciliation at any time. If this happens, issuance of a “no-board” report sets the clock ticking towards a legal strike or lockout deadline.
OPSEU has tabled contract language related to staffing levels, legal protection for public employees who blow the whistle on government wrongdoing, a moratorium on contracting out of public services, and other issues.
“This government’s track record on privatization has shown that they simply don’t know what they’re doing,” Casselman said. “In the $200-million Andersen Consulting fiasco, public accountability went out the window and taxpayers paid up to six times what it would have cost to have public employees do the same work. The privatization of environment labs taught
Ontarians that privatization is not only a waste of money, but a public health hazard as well.”
OPSEU represents a total of 45,000 workers in every Ministry of the Ontario government. Their collective agreement expired Dec. 31, 2001.
OPSEU members in the public service work in hundreds of jobs, such as Environmental Officer, Lab Technologist, Correctional Officer, Court Reporter, Nurse, Driver Examiner, Systems Officer, Cartographer, and Office Administration worker.
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For more information:
Randy Robinson (416) 448-7441; (416) 788-9134 (cell)
