The mobilization has begun.
The OPSEU collective agreement in the Ontario
Public Service expires Dec. 31, 2001. Between now and then, close to
45,000 OPSEU members will plan and implement a strategy designed to
win them a strong new contract.
If a meeting held last weekend in Toronto is
any indication, this work is well under way. About 50 Region 5 OPSEU
stewards and Local executive members met Feb. 3 to prepare for OPS
Local demand-setting meetings being held this month.
“It was an excellent brainstorming session
that gave me lots of ideas to take forward,” said Brenda McCullagh,
president of Local 542, with 1,200 members. “I expect our
[demand-setting] meeting to be a lot bigger than the general
membership meetings we usually have.”
Many members commented that, in the past, such
“strategic conversations” haven’t often happened until much
later in bargaining.
“Getting members involved right from the
start is, I believe, the key to success in this round of bargaining,”
said OPSEU president Leah Casselman. “If you’ve got something to
say, step up now. Make your voice heard.”
Participants at the Region 5 meeting were very
clear on what the employer is doing in OPS workplaces, said OPSEU
Campaigns Officer Jan Borowy. “Everybody knows what the employer’s
up to - contracting-out work, laying people off, more and more abuse
of temps and unclassified workers, more high-priced fee-for-service
consultants, skeleton crews in many workplaces, no backfilling, and
heavier workloads for everyone.”
“The public is getting really angry about
the destruction of public services. Front-line workers are taking
the heat for this government’s mismanagement. People are
interested in saving their jobs and improving their working
conditions.”
Members didn’t need to be told that their
wages have fallen behind. Wage increases from January 1994 to
December 2001 (when the OPSEU OPS contract expires) will amount to
just 4.4 per cent compounded. Inflation over the same period will
have been 16.0 per cent. In real terms, OPSEU members in the OPS
have taken an 11.6 per cent pay cut since 1994.
Members at the meeting represented the
diversity of OPSEU members in the OPS in the Toronto area, Borowy
said.
The OPSEU activists left the meeting with
concrete workplans designed to get maximum member participation in
demand-setting this time around.
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