The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) held a rally to greet the return of MPPs to the legislature this morning (February 17). Hundreds of union members showed up to demand the province settle negotiations for 35,000 ministry employees with a collective agreement that’s been expired since December 31.
The province wants cuts to benefits, a “net zero” wage freeze and a 5 per cent wage reduction for new government employees.
“We’d probably settle for anything reasonable, anything above zero,” said OPSEU president Smokey Thomas. “Arbitrators are awarding 1.4 per cent and 1.5 per cent. To me, it’s just my own personal opinion, that would probably fly with the membership and I think they’d take that in a heartbeat.”
After they rallied, OPSEU members marched around the government buildings and held signs reading “What would you do with 8.2?” It’s a reference to a report by the auditor general claiming that over the past nine years, the province has overspent $8 billion on public-private infrastructure partnerships.
Says Smokey Thomas: “Managers are getting big bonuses at the year end and they are still hiring managers while laying off frontline workers, so the anger here is really about how they treat their own workers.”
