FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 15, 2006
Leah Casselman to step
down as OPSEU president in 2007
TORONTO – Leah Casselman has
decided not to seek re-election as president of the Ontario
Public Service Employees Union next year.
Casselman, 52, has piloted
the 115,000-member union for more than 11 years through the
most turbulent period of public-sector downsizing and
reorganization in Ontario history. She will remain as
president until the union elects a new president at its
annual Convention in April.
“I am honoured to have worked
with wonderfully dedicated people,” Casselman said. “OPSEU
members are committed to delivering the best possible public
services to the people of Ontario, despite regressive
government policies. Our union is stronger that ever.”
“This is an excellent time
for the transition to new leadership,” she said.
First elected in 1995 and
re-elected five times, Casselman led OPSEU through two
province-wide public service strikes against the policies of
the Mike Harris Tory government. She was also pivotal in
mergers with the Allied Health Professionals and the Ontario
Liquor Boards’ Employees Union, and the current campaign for
the legal right to unionize for 15.000 part-time workers at
Ontario community colleges.
OPSEU represents employees of
the Ontario government, correctional facilities, courts,
community colleges and universities, hospitals, ambulance
services, social service agencies, cultural institutions and
the LCBO.
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For further information:
Randy Robinson (416) 788-9134 (cell)
