TORONTO: Legal Aid Ontario workers, members of Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 525, have massively rejected their employer’s offer, giving their bargaining team an overwhelming 92 per cent strike vote.
“After years of our wages consistently falling behind inflation, of deteriorating service standards and the threat of job losses, we have had enough. We need a fair collective agreement that is respectful of our members,” said Kevin Romain, chair of the OPSEU bargaining team.
The employer’s offer of a lump sum payment of 1.5 percent is unacceptable, says OPSEU negotiator Ruth Hamilton.
The agency’s new software system is changing the workplace, threatening members’ jobs, Romain says. “The union has asked for standard lay-off language but the employer refuses to negotiate this. Members are also concerned about the decline in the quality of service provided to solicitors since the introduction of the new computer system.”
In case of a job action, information technology services including the processing of duty counsel accounts, processing of certificate accounts by the Legal Accounts Department, disbursement authorizations, and lien lifts/discharges by Client Account Services would be affected. A job action could also affect research, payments and mail.
Conciliation is scheduled for Oct. 5-6. The contract for the 140 members expired March 31, 2004
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For more information, contact
Ruth Hamilton, negotiator - 1-800-268-7376 ext. 311
Kevin Romain (Team Chair) - 416-979-2352 ext. 6228
