Toronto- OPSEU President Leah Casselman is strongly recommending that OPSEU members in the Ontario Public Service, reject the government’s contract offer when they come out to vote between Wednesday, March 3 and Friday, March 5.

The 48,000 members of the OPS, whose contract expired on December 31, 1998, will begin voting at 7 a.m. on Wednesday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. For press interested in photo opportunities or conducting interviews, the union recommends arriving between 12:30-1:30 p.m., and then again between 3:30-6:00 p.m., when the majority of workers will be voting. The polls close at 9 p.m.

"If the workers vote no to this offer, it does not necessarily mean we are headed towards a strike," emphasized Casselman. "What it does, is give our bargaining teams a mandate to go back in and negotiate contract improvements. The employer’s offer, as it stands now, is simply unacceptable."

If a majority of OPS workers reject the government’s offer, they would be in a legal strike position 17 days later, on March 18.

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Contact: Pierre Florea, 448.7442, or 258.1231, cell or Ellen Gardner, 932.0004.

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