Toronto – Employees of the Ontario government moved closer to a strike vote Saturday, as local union leaders from across the province voted unanimously to support their bargaining teams in negotiations with the Ontario government.
Nearly 600 local union presidents and leaders from the Ontario Public Service Employees Union met at the Regal Constellation Hotel near the airport to hear detailed reports from their bargaining teams.
OPSEU President Leah Casselman said if the 48,000-member bargaining unit is forced into a strike, it will be different from the five-week walkout in 1996.
"We’ll do it differently this time," she told a standing ovation. "In 1996 we ran a traditional kind of strike. If we have to do it again, we’ll take what we learned. We’ll be more creative."
Casselman and bargaining team leaders emphasized the need to bring pressure on the government to achieve a fair settlement. "We’re bargaining under a microscope, and if you look back up through the microscope, what you will see is Mike Harris’s eye," she said.
"We don’t want to strike, but we must have an acceptable contract."
The collective agreement covering the Ontario government workers expired Dec. 31. The government is demanding concessions to permit six-month layoffs with two weeks notice for any employee; to make it easier to get rid of unclassified staff; to make pay rates depend on a supervisor’s whim; to drop its responsibility for severance pay in many instances; and to eliminate inflation protection for employees on long-term sickness benefits.
OPSEU wants contract improvements in a number of areas, including greater rights for unclassified staff, earlier retirement for public safety staff, and their first wage increase in seven years.
Negotiations are continuing in Toronto with the help of conciliation officers.
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For further information:
Katie FitzRandolph (OPSEU Communications) (416) 448-7440 or home (416) 967-5964
