Casselman wins third term as OPSEU president

TORONTO – Delegates to the annual convention of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union have elected Leah Casselman to her third two-year term as president of the union.

Casselman, a youth correctional officer at the Syl Apps Centre in Oakville, defeated Will Presley, a property assessor from North Bay, by 419 votes to 342.

"It has been a really difficult four years," Casselman told delegates. She was first elected to the union’s top post just six weeks before the Mike Harris Tories won the 1995 Ontario provincial election. The Harris government has waged a continuous campaign against union members ever since.

"We have a lot of work ahead of us," Casselman said. "The biggest job that faces us is the provincial election."

First Vice-President/Treasurer Len Hupet, a correctional officer from Fort Frances, was acclaimed to his second term yesterday.

OPSEU represents 95,000 Ontario workers in the Ontario Public Service, the community college system, and the broader public sector.

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