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 February, 2002: Article 1
Reject this offer – and win the “A” contract you deserve
Dear friend:
 As demanded by OPSEU, your employer has tabled a contract offer for you to vote on later this month.
This offer gets an “F” for “fail.”
Your bargaining teams have voted unanimously to ask you to reject this offer and give them a strike mandate to go back and bargain the “A” contract you deserve.
Last year, you sent your teams to the table to get a better collective agreement. You said you needed:
- more job security;
- better benefits;
- extension of Factor 80 for all employees;
- more conversion of unclassified employees to classified jobs;
- a way to solve wage classification disputes; and
- better wages.
 The employer’s Feb. 14 offer ignores all of your demands, except the last one. They have offered 1.95, 1.95, and 1.95 per cent in each successive year of a proposed three-year contract.
Not enough is not enough. Inflation has slashed your buying power by 12 per cent since 1994. The employer’s offer won’t even give back half of what you’ve lost.
Meanwhile, Ontario MPPs are getting a 36.6 per cent pay raise. How can Ontario Tories offer only crumbs to the people who really make the province run?
This offer shows that your employer does not care about you, your family, or your career goals. Your job now is to make them care.
Vicious attacks
The employer’s offer contains major attacks on your career, your health, your pension, and your wallet.
They could still block your career path by creating new “term classified” positions.
They are still attacking your pension. They still want us to give up our ability to pay for Factor 80 – and other pension improvements – through our OPSEU Pension Trust surpluses.
They still want to use “pay for performance” so they can base a part of your paycheque on favouritism.
Beating back employer takeaways is (once again) a big part of our work over the next few weeks.
There’s nothing “final” about this offer
The last two contracts have taught OPSEU members in the OPS a lot about the way bargaining works1.
First, we’ve learned that the boss doesn’t move in negotiations unless we make him move.
One way to do that is to demand an offer for employees to vote on. It worked in 1996. It worked in 1999. And it worked this time. The offer we got Feb. 14 is better than what we had Feb. 12. Some takeaways have dropped off the table.
With a strong strike mandate, we can get the rest of the takeaways off the table, too.
History shows us there’s nothing “final” about this offer. The real contract bargaining begins when you reject this offer and give your teams a strike mandate. In both of the last two rounds, on every issue, the employer has changed its position in our favour after our strike vote.
Let’s be clear. We are not bargaining to get a strike. We are bargaining to get a collective agreement. But if you do not give your teams a strong mandate to call a strike if necessary, they will not have the leverage they need to get the improvements you deserve.
Will we go on strike? That depends. Ironically, a strong strike mandate actually reduces the chance of a strike. That’s because a high strike vote provides more leverage than a low one. The higher the vote, the better the contract. It’s as simple as that.
In January, OPSEU conducted a poll of 800 people in our bargaining unit. Just over 90 per cent said they were likely to vote in favour of a strike over at least one of the issues on the bargaining table. All of those issues are still on the table. Front-line workers across the OPS are saying it loud and clear: Now is the
time to support our teams.
It is also a time for mutual support. We don’t all want the same things. Talk to your co-workers about their issues and the upcoming vote. If you support their top issues, they will support yours. Work with your OPSEU Local to spread the word to every person in your workplace.
Your teams are in tune with the struggles you face every day at work and every month when you pay your bills. They have the skills to do their job, but they won’t succeed without your support. A strong rejection of the employer’s offer and a strong strike mandate for your teams will give them the power they need to win the “A”
contract you deserve.
In solidarity,
Leah Casselman, president Marg Simmons, Chair, Central Bargaining Team
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