| Canadian actor
and activist Shirley Douglas accepted OPSEU’s annual Stanley Knowles Humanitarian
Award on behalf of her late father, former Saskatchewan NDP premier Tommy Douglas. "This is very moving for me. Stanley Knowles was my godfather.
I knew him from the day I was born. He was the best man at my parents’ wedding.
"Stanley Knowles was one of the great mountain peaks
in our history. And I can’t think of an organization that would more please my father
to give him this award than OPSEU.
"No one more appreciated or loved the people who ran
the health care system and made it possible."
Delegates make it easier to join
Labour Councils
The 1999 convention made it easier for union locals to join
their local labour councils.
OPSEU will now pay 90 per cent of a local’s
affiliation fees, up from 50 per cent.
Delegates felt the cost of affiliation prevented many
locals from getting involved in the labour movement at the community level.
Constitutional proposals to increase the number of
convention delegates for larger locals; to remove officers who advocate withdrawal from
OPSEU; and to require officers to vacate their position if seconded outside the bargaining
unit for more than 30 days were all defeated.
Cap removed
Dues extended to
overtime/premiums
Delegates to the 1999 OPSEU Convention adopted a motion to
apply union dues to overtime, administrative allowances and other forms of premium pay
negotiated by the union.
This would not include meal and mileage allowances, and
other payments that reimburse members’ expenses.
The full list of what is covered is on OPSEU’s web
page (www.opseu.org).
The union’s Executive Board has also eliminated the
"cap" on dues, which was introduced when OPSEU went to a percentage dues formula
in 1983. The cap has been raised $1 a year since then. Last year it reached a weekly limit
of $22.50.
No member’s regular salary was high enough ($1,700
weekly) to be affected by the cap.
Removal of the cap will ensure that a member can’t
avoid dues by banking overtime then cashing out a large sum.
The $45 million budget adopted by the convention foresees a
$1.2 million deficit in the general fund and a $4.8 million surplus in the strike fund. |
