October 27,
2006
Liberals still committed to
successor rights for Crown employees, Phillips says
Gerry
Phillips, Minister of Government Services, says the McGuinty
Liberals still plan to restore successor rights for Crown
employees.
“We
made a commitment and we are determined to do it,” Phillips
said Tuesday.
Phillips made the remark as OPSEU president Leah Casselman
joined Eric Morin, OPSEU chair of the Central Enforcement
and Renewal Committee, to give the Minister 7,125 postcards
signed by OPSEU members.
(For
photos, see
http://www.opseu.org/ops/frontlines/frontlinesoct272006pic.htm
)
The postcards
call on the Minister to pass legislation to restore the
legal right of Crown employees to follow their jobs, with
their collective agreement intact, when their work is
privatized or downloaded from the OPS.
This is standard
practice in the private sector, as Dalton McGuinty pointed
out in 2003.
“Public
employees should have the same rights as employees in the
private sector, and, as Premier, I will restore successor
rights for Ontario government employees,” McGuinty said
then.
Successor rights
legislation could appear this fall, according to CERC chair
Eric Morin.
“We have no
specific commitments on the timing of the Legislation, but
the hints are pointing to something happening this year,” he
said. “Apparently the Liberals are looking at modifying a
few pieces of Legislation related to the public service as
well.
“We’ll have to
wait and see.”
Committee in place to work
on GSB court transcripts ruling
A new committee
of OPSEU members is about to get down to work to implement a
grievance ruling that will change the way court reporters
are paid.
As reported in
FRONTlines this summer (see
http://www.opseu.org/ops/frontlines/frontlinesaug032006.htm
), the Grievance Settlement Board (GSB) has ruled that
the preparation of court transcripts is work that belongs in
the OPSEU bargaining unit. Until now, court reporters have
mostly prepared transcripts on their own time on a
“piecework” basis.
The OPSEU
members on the committee are Helen Haggith, OPSEU Local 154,
Windsor; Julie Weber, Local 228, Brampton; and Ernel
Williams, Local 526, Toronto.
The committee
should have its first meeting in the next week or two. For
more information, contact the committee members as follows:
Helen Haggith
(519) 999-2243
hhaggith@cogeco.ca
Julie Weber
(416) 443-8888 ext. 8260
jweber@opseu.org
Ernel
Williams
(416) 327-5888
Original authorized for distribution by Leah Casselman,
president.
Download
October 27, 2006 Issue of
Frontlines
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