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OPSEU employees picket in Hawkesbury
DIANE HUNTER d iane.hunter@eap.on.ca
corrections officers. I have the utmost res- pect for OPP officers. We don’t want to take anything away from the police. We would like some recognition.” Jones also said public service workers would like better job security. “If I get hurt on the job, I’ll get compensation, but not before I lose 10 to 15 per cent of my wages. If an older guy likeme gets hurt on the job, they will just retireme. It’s a human rights issue.” Jones explained that corrections facilities in Ontario have the highest rate of violence against staff in Canada. “There were close to 900 incidents last year,” said Jones. “Our facilities are over-crowded. You can’t put all inmates together. Some of them need to be segregated for safety reasons. We don’t have the infrastructure to accommodate this type of thing. We don’t have training for mental health issues. We’ve been asking for years. It’s a powder keg. We want the government to recognize we have real health and safety issues.” “We are preparing to strike” “Somehow theWynne government is bla- ming public service workers for the deficit,” said DeRoche. ‘They have wasted billions of dollars on failed privatization schemes for jobs public service workers could do for a fraction of the cost.” DeRoche said she is frustrated that the government refuses
Workers from the Ontario Public Service (OPS) represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) were out in the cold, February 19, to picket in front of MPP Grant Crack’s office in Hawkesbury. “We are here today to hi- ghlight community public service workers,” said BarbDeRoche, executive boardmem- ber of region 4 of the OPSEU. “We want to knowwhy they (government) won’t speak to us. The government is refusing to reco- gnize the legitimate bargaining demands, and is intent on freezing wages and cutting benefits in the current contract.” The union’s contract expired December 31, 2014. Workers from the union would like to negotiate a new contract, which would include higher wages, better training, and job security. “We want a contract. We don’t want to strike,” said Gareth Jones, OPS mobilizer with OPSEU, which represents front-line ministry employees who work directly for the Ontario government. “We want improved health and safety, and wage increase to put us more in line with other service workers, ” Jones added. “The OPPmake about 30 per cent more than
Workers from Ontario Public Service, represented by The Ontario Public Service Employees Union, were picketing outside of MPP Grant Crack’s office in Hawkesbury on February 19. Executive board member Barb DeRoche and OPS mobilizer Gareth Jones say they don’t want to strike, but they do want to be heard.
to bargain fairly for public service workers that are essential to public safety. “We now represent 35,000 workers. A few years ago we were 68,000,” explained DeRoche. “We are preparing to strike.” Grant Crack was not in his office Thur- sday while the picketers were there. “We are not expecting any problems,” said Lyse Desforges, constituency assistant, but did not have any other comments.
Possible fraud involving laptops OPSEU president said in a news release “Government negotiators at the bargaining table appear they would rather push the OPS into a strike than negotiate a fair deal with their employees. If Kathleen Wynne can’t properly direct her negotiators, maybe her caucus members can convince her that a fair contract with those who provide cru- cial services in this province is in the best interests of all Ontarians.”
DIANE HUNTER d iane.hunter@eap.on.ca
The Hawkesbury OPP is investigating a possible scamor fraud in relation to Apple laptop computers that has occurred in the area. On Thursday, February 19, someone reported finding boxes of Apple MacBook Pros in a Cartier Boulevard residential com- plex dumpster. A total of 98 MacBook Pro boxes, most of them sealed, were found and seized. All the boxes had a fraudulent sticker identifying the model number A1398 with serial number C02N74LFG3QD. The boxes were all opened and plywood was found inside instead of a laptop com- puter. The OPP Identification Unit assisted in the investigation. Police believe theremay be more laptop boxes out there. OPP is warning the public to be wary of people trying to sell MacBooks either in person, or for sale online. OPP is asking for the public’s help. If approached, police ask to take as much information on the suspect as possible and contact local police service. Any information on this matter can be relayed to Constable Eddy Saardi at the Hawkesbury OPP at 613-632-2729 or 1-888- 310-1122.
About a dozen workers fromThe Ontario Public Service Employees Union came out in the cold to picket at MPP Grant Crack’s office in Hawkesbury on February 19.
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