IN SOLIDARITY - OPSEU

IN SOLIDARITY 

The newsletter for OPSEU Stewards and Activists — Summer 2005 

In Solidarity 11

EDITORIAL POLICY 

The content and editing of this newsletter are determined by 

the committee. We want members to feel ownership of 

In Solidarity, and view it as independent of any particular 

segment of the union. Content comes from our base of activists, 

staff and other labour sources. 

Where an article has a by-line, the views are those of the 

author and not necessarily the views of OPSEU. 

While we welcome your contributions, we ask that these be 

constructive. All articles should be signed and include Local 

number, and should contribute positively to the welfare of this 

union. 

We encourage thoughtful discussion of all related issues and 

reserve the right to edit for libel, length and clarity, and to reply 

to those that seem to reflect a misunderstanding of the union 

and its policies. ☺ 

The elected members of the editorial committee for 

In Solidarity are: 

Len Mason - Editor, Local 737 

Laurie Sabourin - Local 368 

Larry Farr - Local 559 

Ken Palmer - Local 456 

Suzanne Clancy - Local 240 

Ex-officio members are: 

James Tocker - Executive Board Liaison 

Don Ford - OPSEU Public Affairs 

Please send mail to In Solidarity, 

c/o Len Mason, OPSEU Head Office 

100 Lesmill Rd., Toronto, Ontario. M3B 3P8 

Contact at: mason@tbaytel.net 

We are also your elected members of Informed Newsletters 

for OPSEU/Bulletins informés pour le SEFPO. If you require 

any support, advice or start-up information concerning 

newsletters, please contact one of the executive members. ☺ 

Who we are 

Inside this Issue 

Point-form history of OPSEU 

Balancing work and life 

Healthy Hours Act 

Technically speaking: USB Keys: the 

new floppy disk 

Local 278 establishes ‘Hardship Fund’ 

Bringing OPSEU home 

Health Hazard Alert 

Long time activist, Ruth Galinis, retires 

Products of teaching 

Tsunami coffee connections 

My ‘Convention 2005’ experience 

Hospital Professionals Division 

New ways to welcome new workers 

Are you at risk for diabetes? 

Pg 3 

Pg 9 

Pg 10 

Pg 12 

Pg 13 

Pg 15 

Pg 16 

Pg 19 

Pg 20 

Pg 22 

Pg 24 

Pg 25 

Pg 26 

Pg 27 

Authorized for distribution: 

Leah Casselman, President 

Ontario Public Service Employees Union 

In Solidarity is produced for all OPSEU stewards, 

newsletter editors of Info/Bis and certified Health and Safety 

Representatives. 

Work law: Jurisdiction again 

Supreme Court to hear Charter 

challenge to B.C. law 

Letters to the editor 

Generosity, charity and the achievement 

of justice 

2005 Editors’ Weekend 

Pg 28 

Pg 29 

Pg 30 

Pg 31 

Pg 32 

In Solidarity 22

This point-form history of OPSEU 

highlights the unions development from 

1911 to 2005, from its beginnings as the 

Civil Service Association of Ontario 

1911 

♦ The Civil Service Association of Ontario (CSAO) 

is created as a coal-buying cooperative and social 

club and to discuss ways of improving the civil 

service. About 200 attend the initial meeting. The 

provincial government then had about 1,000 

employees. 

1912 

♦ Delegation from CSAO meets Premier Whitney to 

talk about pensions. They also want shorter summer 

hours to start in June rather than July. 

1920 

♦ CSAO refuses to join a national civil service 

federation because it looked too militant. 

1926 

♦ CSAO stops using government letterhead and 

starts publishing the Civil Service Review. 

1927 

♦ CSAO incorporates. That incorporation is one 

reason that OPSEU has annual conventions, 

compared to the biennial ones of most unions. 

1928 

♦ CSAO asks the government for a grievance 

system, but doesn’t get it. 

The 1930s 

♦ The Great Depression leaves anyone with a job 

feeling pretty lucky. Ontario civil servants accept 

wage rollbacks to retain their jobs as the country 

goes through an economic upheaval. 

1944 

♦ CSAO asks for equal representation on the Civil 

Service Commission – the first request for a 

structured relationship based on equality. CSAO is 

now bargaining over pay and appointments, but does 

not define itself as a union – rather as something to 

keep “radical unions” out of the public service. 

♦ A Joint Advisory Council (JAC) is created to 

discuss workplace issues in principle. A new appeal 

board, chaired by the Minister of Labour with reps 

from CSAO and the premier’s office, hears appeals 

from workers who have been punished. This is not a 

grievance system as there is no contract to be 

violated. Pay is still set by Cabinet. 

1946 

♦ CSAO hires its first paid staffer and rents a small 

room on Bay Street as its office. It also joins the 

Canadian Council of Provincial Employee 

Associations, where it is the only provincial union 

that does not sign on with the Trades and Labour 

Congress, which was a national labour body later 

merged with another organization to create today’s 

Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). 

1950 

♦ Faced with a government refusal to meet with paid 

CSAO staff present, the organization’s board resigns 

and an emergency meeting votes to join the Trades 

and Labour Congress. The bluff works, and the 

moribund JAC starts meeting again, although 

decisions are still made in the premier’s office. 

1951 

♦ The civil service moves to a five-day week; 

employees get four weeks’ holiday after 25 years’ 

service. 

(Continued on page 4) 

In Solidarity 33

(Continued from page 3) 

♦ CSAO gets a new head office – a 10-room house 

on Isabella St. Tory Premier Leslie Frost. New 

CSAO logo features the trillium and the motto: 

Modern, Loyal, Efficient. 

1952 

♦ CSAO goes broke after investing in a rather 

splendid club house. The executive and the entire 

staff of three resign. Harold Bowen leads a slate of 

officers who take over and nurture CSAO into an 

independent labour organization. He will be a 

dominant force in the organization for two decades. 

(Bowen was president 1953 to 1957 and held 

executive secretary, general manager and chief 

negotiator positions between 1958 and 1972.) 

1954 

♦ 85 per cent of civil servants have joined CSAO. 

Dues are doubled to $6 a month. 

1955 

♦ Bowen forces the JAC to recognize CSAO as the 

organization representing civil servants. 

“Bargaining” consists of briefs to the premier, not 

demands tabled with managers. 

1956 

♦ The Annual General Meeting (the precursor to 

today’s Annual Convention) amends CSAO’s charter 

to spell out a full range of union functions. CSAO 

sets up a grievance committee. 

1957 

♦ Bowen becomes General Manager and pushes for 

bargaining instead of arbitration. 

1959 

♦ CSAO makes a militant push for bargaining rights, 

a grievance system and higher pay. 

1963 

♦ Changes to the Public Service Act replace the JAC 

with an Ontario Joint Council with four reps from 

CSAO and four from government to “negotiate” 

matters on its agenda, with arbitration should they 

fail to agree. 

♦ The politicians insist that senior managers no 

longer belong to CSAO. The organization is starting 

to become a grouping of front-line workers. 

1966 

♦ CSAO registers as a union with the Ontario 

Labour Relations Board enabling it to organize in the 

private sector. 

♦ When the old Provincial Institute of Trades is 

moved to the new community colleges, CSAO 

organizes support staff in the college system. Most of 

them had been CSAO members as part of the 

government workforce. The far-flung college system 

poses new challenges and marks the end of running 

the whole union operation out of Toronto. It also 

forces CSAO to deal with more than one employer. 

1967 

♦ CSAO beats out CUPE to represent staff at the 

Niagara Parks Commission – newly independent 

from the Civil Service – and negotiates its first ever 

collective agreement. At this point there is still no 

formal collective agreement for the OPS members. 

1968 

♦ The first contract for college support staff is 

signed. 

♦ The province takes over county jails, and CSAO 

moves in to take over those guards from CUPE. 

CSAO has always represented the staff of provincial 

“reform institutions.” This strengthens the 

correctional group in the union. 

1969 

♦ The government acts on a key report by Judge 

Walter Little and excludes managers, professionals 

and confidential staff from CSAO. CSAO gets dues 

check-off for all members and new hires. The dues 

check-off does not mean these people have to 

become members of the organization, but it ensures a 

degree of financial stability to the organization by 

ensuring they pay dues. In effect, it brings the Rand 

Formula to the OPS. 

♦ CSAO organizes its first group of “hospital 

paramedics” – technologists at Peterborough Civic 

Hospital. This forms the basis for a group initially 

known as the OLRA division, and now the Broader 

Public Service (BPS). It was the start of major 


In Solidarity 44


organizing campaign among hospital workers, now 

called “hospital professionals” to avoid confusion 

with ambulance workers. 

1971 

♦ CSAO organizes community college faculty. 

1972 

♦ Passage of the Crown Employees Collective 

Bargaining Act (CECBA) happens while CSAO is 

busy with its own internal crisis. The law includes 21 

non-negotiable management rights including 

pensions and most workplace rules. All disputes are 

to be settled by arbitration. There is no incentive for 

the union, its leaders, or its members to take direct 

responsibility for bargaining. 

♦ CSAO begins its campaign for CECBA reform, 

which is to last 20 years. 

1974 

♦ Free the Servants campaign takes the first serious 

run at CECBA, at a cost of $600,000. CSAO 

demands the right to strike and political freedom for 

civil servants. It’s high profile, public and flashy. 

♦ College staff are moved out of CECBA to the new 

Colleges Collective Bargaining Act (CCBA) and 

gain the right to strike and to bargain anything except 

pensions. They also get a no-scab provision. 

However, the law makes it impossible for part timers 

– faculty or support staff – to organize and be 

represented by a union. More than 30 years later, the 

bar on organizing college part-timers remains a 

barrier. 

♦ The “General Operational Services” category in 

the OPS (which includes correctional officers) vote 

92 per cent in favour of strike and the looming strike 

generates huge publicity. The category gets 21.5 per 

cent and an extra 5 per cent for the guards. It is 

CSAO’s first confrontational bargaining and the 

making of the union. 

1975 

♦ The organization makes the change complete and 

becomes the Ontario Public Service Employees 

Union (OPSEU). 

♦ A new democratic structure has Convention 

delegates elect the president for the first time. They 

choose Charles Darrow. The vice-president/ 

treasurer’s job becomes full time, and the sevenregion 

structure is written into the new constitution. 

The board abolishes the position of general manager. 

♦ The new union gets a new logo, a stylized trillium 

enclosed in a triangle formed of three lines – which 

don’t meet at the bottom. The lines are said to 

represent the three sectors of the union – the OPS, 

the colleges and the broader public 

service. The lines won’t meet until 

the union gains the full right to 

strike for OPS members. The 

slogan Modern, Loyal, Efficient is 

gone. 

1975 – 1980 

♦ The number of government jobs is cut from 87,000 

to 80,000. 

1978 

♦ Sean O’Flynn is elected president, defeating 

Charlie Darrow by six votes. 

♦ OPSEU organizes staff at the Art Gallery of 

Ontario. The union wins 13 cases of unfair labour 

practice against the gallery in its fight for a first 

contract. It’s the union’s first move into the cultural 

sector. 

1979 

♦ OPSEU agrees to affiliate with NUPGE and with it 

the CLC, the Ontario Federation of Labour and local 

labour councils. It has joined “the house of labour.” 

♦ OPSEU experiences its first province-wide strike – 

college support staff walk off the job in mid- 

January. The lack of experience shows, and the 

union is quick to over-ride its own strike policy and 

institute strike pay immediately – not after three 

weeks. The strike ends after 13 days with face-saving 

improvements. It is a recognition strike by clerical 

workers and pays off handsomely in the following 

round of bargaining. 

♦ Halton-Mississauga Ambulance workers strike for 

six weeks in the summer, for wage parity with 

ambulance officers employed by the province. 

OPSEU pursues central bargaining for ambulance 

workers . 

♦ In a first province-wide illegal strike, Dec. 3 to 5, 

Correctional Officers walk out in a demand for a 


In Solidarity 55

(Continued from page 5) 1989 

separate bargaining category (separate from 

institutional care workers). The resolution is an 

arbitrated settlement in which Corrections gets its 

separate group and OPSEU agrees to no new 

categories until 1982. In the subsequent round of 

bargaining, COs get a 27 per cent increase. 

1980 

♦ President Sean O’Flynn is sentenced to 35 days in 

jail for his role in the illegal corrections strike. He 

serves the mandatory two-thirds of the sentence in 

the Metropolitan Toronto West 

Detention Centre. 

♦ Convention establishes the 

Provincial Women’s Committee with 

a formal role in the union. It has a 

mandate to enhance the role of 

women in the union, the workplace 

and society. 

1981 

♦ Centennial College in Scarborough lays off 47 

maintenance workers and contracts the work out. 

O’Flynn, two of the workers, OFL Secretary- 

Treasurer Terry Meagher and Toronto Labour 

Council President Wally Majesky occupy the office 

of Centennial’s president. After eight days, the 

college agrees to save the jobs. 

1982 

♦ OPSEU wins paid parental leave for the Ontario 

Public Service. 

1984 

♦ College faculty strike over quality of education on 

Oct.16. In early November the government legislates 

them back to work with an arbitrator to rule on 

wages and Prof. Michael Skolnick assigned to 

research college educational standards. Within a year 

they have a settlement that makes up for pay lost 

during the strike and a ringing endorsement from 

Skolnick on their quality of education issues. 

1985 

♦ James Clancy is elected president of the union, 

succeeding O’Flynn who is moving to a position at 

the OFL. 

♦ For the second time, college faculty walk out on 

strike. Again, quality of education is the key issue. 

♦ The OPS launches a campaign for pension reform, 

pursuing joint control over pension funds. 

1990 

♦ Fred Upshaw becomes the first black person to 

lead a major trade union when he succeeds James 

Clancy, who becomes president of NUPGE. Upshaw 

goes on to be re-elected twice. 

1991 

♦ OPSEU negotiates a huge pay equity settlement 

for the Ontario Public Service. 

1992 

♦ OPSEU negotiates the creation of the OPSEU 

Pension Trust. The new pension plan is jointly 

trusteed by the union and the government and 

members have input into how pension surpluses are 

used and how the fund is invested. It is the 

culmination of some 80 years of work. 

♦ The convention establishes a Provincial Human 

Rights Committee. Its mandate is to promote a wide 

range of human rights throughout the union. 

♦ OPSEU holds its first Editors’ Weekend, a threeday 

conference of skills workshops, an awards 

banquet and other features to encourage local union 

communications. It becomes an annual event. 

♦ The union moves to a new head office at 100 

Lesmill Road, designed and built specifically for the 

union. 

♦ The first conference for members in the Broader 

Public Service (the BPS) draws 200 delegates to talk 

about their specific concerns. It’s a recognition that 

this sector of the union is growing dramatically and 

has its own issues. 

1993 

♦ The NDP passes amendments to CECBA giving 

the OPS the right to strike. It also passes legislation 

protecting whistle-blowers, but this legislation is 

never proclaimed. The NDP fails to pass 

amendments to the Colleges Collective Bargaining 

Act to give part-timers in faculty and 

support staff the right to organize. 


In Solidarity 66


1994 

♦ OPSEU starts publication of In Solidarity, a 

magazine for union stewards and other leaders. It is 

written, edited and organized by local union 

members. The editorial committee is elected at the 

Editors’ Weekend from among local union editors. 

1995 

♦ Leah Casselman is elected OPSEU president, the 

first woman to hold the position, defeating three 

other candidates, including Fred Upshaw. 

♦ Election of the Mike Harris 

Conservatives armed with their “Common 

Sense Revolution” institutes huge cuts to 

public services and puts OPSEU on a 

treadmill of reaction to an onslaught of 

attacks. The Conservatives speed up the 

process of the Legislature so much it is 

impossible to react to all the initiatives. 

With Bill 7, its new labour law, the Conservatives 

remove successor rights from OPS members. 

1996 

♦ For the first time, in February, the OPS strikes. 

The five-week walkout by 55,000 

members achieves language around 

“reasonable efforts” in the contracting out 

of OPS work to mitigate the loss of 

successor rights. In the following years, 

OPSEU pushes the language to the limits 

to save thousands of jobs. 

1997 

♦ A host of arbitration awards on “reasonable 

efforts” thwart the Conservatives’ plans for 

privatization. 

♦ OPSEU regional meetings elect a smaller 

executive board, following a decision made at the 

previous Year’s Convention. There are now three 

members from each region rather than four. 

1998 

♦ A nine-week strike at Earlscourt Child and Family 

Centre in Toronto preserves quality care and allows 

the centre to attract new employees. The growth of 

the Broader Public Service (BPS) means more 

bargaining situations end up with picket lines as the 

union tries to achieve decent contracts with underfunded 

community agencies. 

1999 

♦ The 2,100 members of the Association of Allied 

Health Professionals: Ontario join OPSEU to form 

the leading health care union in Ontario. This is the 

first time another union has merged with OPSEU. 

♦ The Provincial Ombudsman agrees with OPSEU 

that Tory downsizing and cost-cutting is burning out 

staff, leaving them stressed and helpless to deal with 

endless lineups. The Tories have cut 18,000 civil 

service jobs in four years. 

♦ Staff at the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of 

Ontario strike for a first contract. 

♦ The Metro Toronto Housing Authority strike for a 

week and achieve breakthroughs in working 

conditions and quality of life. 

2000 

♦ In May, the water supply of Walkerton is 

contaminated by E. coli bacteria, which leaves seven 

dead and thousands made ill. The toll includes 

OPSEU member Betty Trushinski, a dietary services 

worker at the South Grey Bruce Health Centre. The 

tragedy highlights cuts to public services. The 

Ministry of the Environment had cut more than 900 

staff, and eliminated 80 per cent of water sampling 

stations. OPSEU insists on (and gets) whistleblowing 

protection for members who testify at the 

inquiry into how it happened. 

♦ OPSEU gets an agreement for 1,100 ambulance 

paramedics working for 41 ambulance services 

across the province. 

♦ About 200 home care workers with the Hamilton- 

Wentworth Victorian Order of Nurses strike over 

low pay, as they lose trained workers to other 

employers. The VON settles after 33 days for a six 

per cent raise over three years, their first increase in 

a decade. 

2001 

♦ The government introduces changes to the Public 

Service Act to make privatization easier, allow 

delegation of authority outside the public service and 

create new categories of temporary staff. They also 


In Solidarity 77


allow the Ontario Provincial Police Association 

(OPPA) to organize more than 2,000 OPSEU 

members who are civilian employees of the OPP. 

The OPPA was a major backer of the Harris Tory 

government. 

♦ Staff at Kennedy House Youth Services in 

Uxbridge (formerly the St. John’s School) authorize 

a strike when the new private employer demands 

severe cuts to the contract at the young offenders’ 

facility. In response, the employer locks them out. 

The lockout will last more than a year. 

2002 

♦ Food safety becomes an issue supporting 

bargaining as the government has cut full-time meat 

inspectors to eight from 150 in 1996. All 20 Farm 

Products Inspectors are gone. 

♦ March 13 – More than 45,000 OPS members are 

on strike. Essential and emergency services continue. 

Correctional facilities lock out the essential and 

emergency services. The strike is to last eight weeks. 

♦ Ernie Eves is elected Tory leader and succeeds 

Mike Harris as premier. OPSEU calls on him to 

listen to his staff and settle the strike. 

♦ May 2 sees a tentative settlement to the OPS 

strike. It maintains employees’ control over pension 

surpluses, boosts wages and improves job quality for 

the 26 per cent of members on temporary contracts. 

Members ratify the contract on May 5 and most 

return to work May 6. 

♦ Correctional Officers at the private superjail in 

Penetanguishene vote to be represented by OPSEU. 

♦ Workers at a pallet manufacturer in Eastern 

Ontario vote for OPSEU, as the union moves into the 

private sector. 

2003 

♦ Leah Casselman is elected to a record fifth term as 

OPSEU president. Members providing security at 

Casino Niagara reach a tentative agreement on a first 

contract, just 90 minutes before a strike deadline. 

♦ Locked-out workers at Kennedy House get a 

tentative agreement on July 15, more than a year 

after the dispute began. However, the operation is 

closed down and they never return to work. 

♦ In the October provincial 

election, a Liberal government 

headed by Premier Dalton 

McGuinty replaces Ernie Eves’ 

Tories. OPSEU had worked 

hard on the election, 

supporting NDP and Liberal 

candidates with staff and 

money, to defeat the 

Conservatives. OPSEU heralds 

the result as an opportunity to 

start rebuilding public services. 

2004 

♦ Convention creates a Provincial Youth Committee. 

This recognizes that young people must be brought 

into the labour movement, and the labour movement 

must reach out to them on their terms. 

♦ Staff at Kinark, the new private operator at Syl 

Apps Youth Centre, vote nearly 92 per cent to strike. 

Talks break down and the 145 workers strike on 

April 14. They finally get a settlement Dec. 1. 

♦ Niagara College cafeteria workers end a 21-day 

strike after ratifying a deal with Aramark Canada 

Ltd. They win a 12.6 per cent increase over three 

years. 

♦ OPSEU wins a representation vote at the Ottawa 

Hospital, where about 2,000 diagnostic, therapeutic 

and rehabilitation professionals reject an attempted 

raid by the Professional Institute of the Public 

Service of Canada. Later an arbitrator orders wage 

increases of seven to 17 per cent over three years, 

making them the highest paid hospital professionals 

in the region. 

History compiled by Katie FitzRandolph for 

Convention 2005. Go to www.opseu.org to see an 

even more comprehensive highlights of OPSEU's 

history. 

In Solidarity 88

Balancing Work and Life 

It is achievable 

by Elaine Bagnall, Provincial Women’s Committee 

H ave you ever wondered what work/life 

balance would mean to you and your family? 

I pondered this issue along with 90 or so 

delegates from across Canada at a Canadian Labour 

Congress conference held in March. 

Today’s pressures continue to mount. Workloads 

are increasing. Union activities are increasingly 

taking up more of our time. Family demands are 

expanding. 

We need to learn how to look after ourselves. We 

need to become a top priority. We need to learn how 

NOT to be a workaholic. 

The group tried to envision a world that has work/ 

life balance. Collectively we agreed that there would 

be reduced stress levels at work and at home. There 

would be an increase in the amount of time you were 

able to spend with family. Overall, we would 

become a happier, healthier and more productive 

society. 

A survey was conducted with children of working 

parents who were unionized. They were asked, 

“What would you like to see your parents do more 

of?” The first item on their list was RELAX. On the 

surface, we thought that this seemed a little odd, until 

that is, we took a look at our own schedules. Relax 

seems to be a word and action that many of us have 

forgotten. We don’t know how to take it easy 

anymore. 

How many of us get up in the morning and don’t 

stop until late evening? What about weekends? How 

many of us run around taking the kids off to 

swimming lessons, hockey, soccer or other events, 

spend hours cleaning the house, taking care of 

elderly parents and grocery shopping (just to mention 

a few)? When was the last time you took a walk 

through a park or just had quiet time for yourself 

without feeling guilty? 

Were we, as a collective, able to come up with the 

ultimate solution? No, but I think we were able to 

come up with some ways to start tackling the issue – 

some more subtle than others. 

We need to learn to say NO to the extra 

workloads. Scheduling time into your day for 

yourself and following through with it, is a step in 

the right direction. Take time to read with your 

children, walk the dog or find some quiet time. 

We need to bargain language that would reduce 

the hours of overtime and hire additional people to 

work those hours. There is a need to build more 

capacity for education. Our messages need to get into 

the schools. We need to educate the union leadership 

on work/life balance. Leadership that is willing to 

share the power is a quality that we should be 

recognizing and asking for. 

Work/life balance is achievable, but we need 

dismantle the old ways of thinking and examine the 

structures. Think about it. Put it into your own plan 

of action. Once your plan is in place, you need to 

follow it. Then we can all work together to make it 

happen for someone else. ☺ 

In Solidarity 99


Columnist proposes 

new legislation 

by Mike Martin, Straight Goods (with permission) 

Overtime is running rampant in Canada. 

Canadians are now spending, on average, more hours 

per day/week/year on the job than we have since the 

Second World War. Most of us have precious little to 

show for it. 

In fact, at least half of the reported overtime is 

unpaid, and unrewarded. None of the unreported 

overtime (which includes the work of managers in 

the service, retail, and hospitality sectors) is 

compensated. Nor does it cover the 10 to 20 

extra hours that middle managers perform in 

the public service every single week of the 

year. 

Real statistics on actual hours worked by 

Canadians would shock but not surprise 

many. That’s because we are all doing it. 

Prime Minister Paul Martin is a 

workaholic, as are most of the federal, 

provincial and municipal elected leaders. Teachers 

are expected to teach all day and prepare lessons at 

night, when they aren’t grading papers or running an 

extracurricular activity. Doctors have to turn patients 

away because they can’t work more than 70 hours a 

week. 

Police, fire, and emergency workers have built-in 

overtime that adds up to hundreds of hours a year. 

The police service board in the City of Ottawa has 

budgeted for an average of three and one half weeks 

of overtime for every officer on the job. That 

includes overtime for court duties, regular overtime 

and special overtime. Last year, dozens of officers 

doubled their pay, and almost their hours working 

overtime. 

It’s worse for people closer to the poverty line. 

Think of every clerk who works for Wal-Mart, flips 

burgers at any fast food restaurant, or hands you your 

Can it really 

be healthy to 

work from 

dawn to dark 

every day? 

double-double at the Tim Horton’s window. They 

are working double hours if they can get them, and 

two jobs if they can’t. Just to survive. 

So who is doing anything about this situation? 

Not business, because they seem to think that they 

are getting a good deal, even if they pay an overtime 

premium to their staff. Overtime is still cheaper for 

them than hiring new employees. Their costs to hire 

and train employees are lower and they don't have to 

pay additions to payroll head taxes or benefits or 

workers compensation costs. 

Not the unions who can see that in economic hard 

times the few extra dollars that their members can 

get from overtime is about the only way that workers 

can seem to improve their standard of living. As long 

as the employer divvies up the overtime 

pot fairly, the unions will lie low. 

Not the government, who even if they 

wanted to be proactive, wouldn't know 

which way to turn for fear of offending 

one side or another. 

Not even the health care professionals 

nor the healthy living folks seem to want 

to take this one on. Can it really be 

healthy to work from dawn to dark every 

day? Doesn’t anybody see what is happening here? 

Or maybe nobody really cares. 

Well, Workplaces at Straight Goods is not afraid 

to speak out. We have a few solid suggestions and 

recommendations to make, that we believe will 

benefit workers, employers, and all of Canadian 

society. 

We propose a new piece of legislation entitled the 

Healthy Hours Act. Under this legislation – which 

would be federal but provinces would be encouraged 

to join – the following provisions would come into 

effect: 

♦ Only essential, emergency or unforeseen 

overtime would be permitted under this 

legislation. Employers and unions would be 

obliged to develop plans to phase out all nonessential 

overtime. Once that had been determined 


In Solidarity 10


employers would identify the number of new 

employees that they would require and would be 

eligible for re-imbursement of all training costs 

for these new employees. 

♦ There would be a 20 per cent income tax levy 

on all essential, emergency or unforeseen 

overtime hours worked. These monies would be 

put into a separate account called the Healthy 

Hours Fund that would be used to pay for the 

provisions of this fund. 

♦ Hours of work for all employees would be 

capped at 40 hours per week. In addition, 

subsidies would be available for companies who 

wished to offer reduced hours of work. These 

subsidies could be used to hire and train 

additional employees. 

♦ Hours of work for managers would be capped at 

50 hours per week. Any employer who requests 

managers to work longer hours could be fined up 

to $10,000. 

♦ The minimum wage would immediately be 

raised to $12.00 an hour and would increase every 

year by the cost of living. These provisions would 

be reviewed and increased if necessary every 

three years. Subsidies from the Healthy Hour 

Fund would be available to provinces and 

territories to assist businesses to meet this amount. 

We anticipate – despite the moans and groans of 

the Fraser Institute that this proposal would actually 

be revenue neutral – but a clause would be built into 

the legislation that requires the federal government to 

cover any deficit into the Healthy Hours Fund 

through contributions from the EI surplus. 

As a matter of fact we believe that the best way to 

spend a billion of the EI surplus would be to provide 

seed funding for this legislation. 

It’s time that we not only turned down the speed 

on the treadmill. It’s time to take a break and enjoy 

this great country that we are all working so hard, 

and for so long, to build. 

♦ 


Mike Martin is an Ottawa-based writer and 

consultant specializing in communications and 

wellness issues. 

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Don’t pretend your ads are new. 

You insult us when you do. 

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Stop it Spam. Enough’s enough. 

I do not want your trashy stuff! 

I do not want your damn spam! 

I do not want it Spam I Am! ☺ 

In Solidarity 11

Technically speaking 

USB keys: the new 

floppy disk 

by Larry Farr, In Solidarity 

Y ou’ve probably seen one of those multicoloured 

USB keys by now – that’s because they’re 

quickly replacing the floppy drive as the storage 

media of choice. They’re smaller, faster, and hold 

much more data. (One floppy holds 1.4 MB of data, 

while a typical USB key holds 128 MB—or the 

equivalent of 91 floppies.) Some USB keys hold a 

Gigabyte (GB) or more. Let’s see now, a GB—that’s 

1024 MB, or about 731 floppy disks. How’s that for 

storage? You can also get 32, 64, 256, and 512MB 

versions. 

USB “keys” (a.k.a. keydrive, pen drive, pocket 

drive, thumb drive and jump drive) use flash memory 

(a solid state storage device with no moving parts) 

and connect to the USB port on your computer. 

They’re durable, fast, and powered by the USB port 

(so no batteries or wires to worry about.) They’re 

also cross-platform, so you can use the same key to 

move files from a PC to a Mac. Some have a lightemitting 

diode (LED) – which flashes to let you 

know when it’s working. 

The thinner the key, the easier it is to plug in. 

That’s because the USB ports on your computer 

don’t have a lot of extra space around them – 

especially if you’re plugging more than one USB 

device in at a time. 

When purchasing one of these items you may also 

want to consider that USB 2.0 is preferable over 

USB 1.1 for speed (you’ll have to have a USB 2.0 

port on your computer though.) For more on USB 

go to http://www.usb.org/faq 

USB keys are “plug and play” for the latest 

operating systems – Windows 2000, ME, or XP – 

although you may have to insert your Windows 

installation CD to get a driver. (Drivers are 

programs that control devices attached to your 

computer such as printers and disk drives. When 

installing new devices, you generally need the 

supplied driver that comes with the device.) With 

Windows 98, for example, you’ll definitely need a 

driver. Before you buy, ask if the key comes with 

one. 

For Windows XP users, the “plug and play” 

feature will automatically detect the type of device 

that you plug into your USB port and, if needed, 

automatically install the appropriate driver. The USB 

key will show up as an icon (often labelled 

“removable disk”) in the “My Computer” window, 

somewhere under your C drive icon. A letter will 

also be associated with it. 

To copy or move files, use it as you would any 

other storage device. If you’ve never used the “send 


In Solidarity 12

Local 278 establishes 

‘Hardship Fund’ 

by Jody Hutton, President, Local 278 

Local 278 represents three sites: Casino Niagara, 

Fallsview Casino and Resort and Fort Erie Slots. 

Our Local is committed to raising money and 

participating in different events within the 

community. 

Our first OPSEU event was our 1st Annual 

Spagettini Dinner which raised approximately 

$2,500. The money was donated to the Canadian 

Cancer Society in memory of our OPSEU Brother, 

Security Officer George Mallet, who lost his battle 

with cancer in 2004. We were also able to donate 

$500 to a young girl in St. Catharines, who was 

going through cancer treatment. This event was a 

great success. 

I take great pride in being the local president and 

one thing in particular that I am very proud of is that 

our local has developed a Hardship Fund Program. 

The implementation of this program became 

necessary after management at both Casino Niagara 

and Fallsview Resort no longer allowed us the 

opportunity to apply to a “Sunshine Fund” which 

they had developed. The funds for that “Sunshine 

Fund” were amassed largely by the proceeds of 

visitors who casually tossed coins into the water 

fountains at both Casinos. Management took it upon 

themselves to take that program away from us when 

we decided that our department needed to become 

unionized. This is one of many programs that they 

have taken away from us since we decided to place a 

third party, namely OPSEU, in our corner. Our 

members came together and started to pass the hat 

around every time one of our fellow Brothers or 

Sisters needed help. 

Through that, we came up with the idea of a 

hardship fund. The funds for this program come from 

the proceeds of our tips which we pool together as a 

department. From the total amount we take a 

Christine Rittenhouse collects donations 

percentage and place it into a separate Hardship 

Fund account. If a member needs assistance, they 

write a letter, which only our Hardship Fund 

Committee members will be privy to. The committee 

then determines if we should donate money and if so, 

how much. The committee has the power to approve 

up to $500 in funds, the Executive has the ability to 

approve any additional amounts over and above the 

$500. We have also found other ways to help people 

in our department, through a union counsellor 

program. 

As a local, we also hold events to help families in 

need at Christmas. It is not just about donating 

money from the Hardship Fund. Recently a 

fundraiser Stag and Doe was organized for a fellow 

Brother who is terminally ill and relies on extremely 

expensive medications to maintain a tolerable quality 


In Solidarity 13


of life. At this event, we were able to raise 

approximately $6,000 to assist him and his family. 

The fundraiser was a great success that was an 

example of the solidarity that is being built within 

our local. 

Juan Flores (left) and Christine Rittenhouse (right) 

show off their spaghetti sauce. 

In the past year and a half, our hardship program 

has helped several brothers and sisters: 

♦ A single parent who could not work for urgent 

personal reasons received funds to purchase 

Christmas presents for her children and give 

them a festive Christmas dinner. 

♦ A member who needed help covering his legal 

fees in an effort to stay in Canada. 

♦ A member whose out-of-country mother was 

terminally ill received funds towards an airline 

ticket in order to visit with her before she passed 

away. 

♦ The committee also sends flowers to members 

who have a family member pass away. 

These are just a few cases of where our 

committee has come together to help a fellow 

Brother or Sister in times of need. This program is 

just one way that we have developed, and continue to 

build solidarity within our local. ☺ 

Technically speaking 


to” command, try it. Click on the file or folder you 

want to transfer (to select multiple files or folders 

hold down the CTRL key while clicking once on 

each) then right click on the file(s) or folder(s) 

you’ve selected and choose “send to” from the menu 

that appears and choose My Documents. 

When you’ve finished copying – STOP! Don’t 

just pull the flash drive out. Even though USB 

(Universal Serial Bus) is “hot swappable”—you can 

plug in and unplug USB devices without having to 

first shut down the computer – you’ll still need to tell 

the computer that you’re going to unplug it. 

Unplugging at the wrong time can corrupt your data 

and make it unusable. 

Use the “Safely Remove Hardware” icon located 

on the bottom right (System Tray) of your screen to 

make sure you unplug correctly. When you mouse 

over the icons in the System Tray, you’ll be able to 

identify the “Safely Remove Hardware” icon – part 

of the icon looks like a green arrow. Left-click the 

icon and select the device (the USB key can be 

identified in various ways) you wish to remove by 

mousing over it and left-clicking. Windows will do 

the rest. A dialog box will display, telling you that 

it’s Safe to Remove Hardware and that’s when you 

can safely pull it out. 

Put the cap on (if you can find it) and put it in 

your pocket – or around your neck – or on your 

keychain. You get the picture. ☺ 

Revised sins 

Internet/CALM 

A recent poll of BBC viewers resulted in an 

up-dated version of the seven deadly sins. 

The new seven include cruelty, adultery, 

bigotry, dishonesty, hypocrisy, greed and 

selfishness. In case you’ve forgotten, the old 

seven are pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, 

gluttony and lust. 

There’s also a proposal to expand the ten 

commandments to 20 and include new directives 

like “live within your means,” “appreciate what 

you have” and “enjoy life.” ☺ 

In Solidarity 14

y Len Mason, In Solidarity 

O ne of our tasks as stewards or even as union 

activists is to spread the word of the union. There are 

many different ways to get information out to the 

members; you may have a newsletter, mail out 

bulletins, send out e-mails or hand out stickers and 

buttons. There is always something going on that you 

may need or want to share with fellow members. 

These methods carry a message and hopefully it gets 

out to everyone. 

There is another way to get members into the 

union spirit and that is getting members to bring 

OPSEU home. That entails having members actually 

bring stuff about your local (or the union as a whole) 

to their homes. One of my favourite ways is to hand 

out “OPSEU Stuff” at local general membership 

meetings or having draws for apparel at meetings. 

Another way is to help sponsor local staff events 

such as hockey tournaments, volleyball games, golf, 

etc… 

As a long time local activist and executive 

member, I take pride in wearing OPSEU apparel. I 

figure that having been around so long in OPSEU, 

wearing a t-shirt or a jacket or drinking my coffee 

out of my “Forward Together – OPSEU” mug just 

comes natural for me. This attitude may be prevalent 

with activists but you don’t see many members 

wearing or using “stuff”. 

I am delighted when I see a fellow member in my 

local wearing a union shirt or hat. Most people put 

some thought into the clothes that they wear and 

usually don’t wear clothing with an insignia they 

have utter distaste for. 

Union business does not have to stay in the 

workplace. Getting our logo and our message out 

into the community shows people that we are proud 

to be union members. 

OPSEU apparel can be purchased from OPSEU 

Head Office through the website at www.opseu.org. 

The “OPSEU stuff” icon is on the left side of the 

page. ☺ 

In Solidarity 15

Health Hazard Alert 

Asbestos at Mimico Correctional Centre 

In Solidarity 

In mid-January, Mimico Correctional 

Centre sent out letters to 34 former employees, most 

of whom worked in Maintenance or who had done 

ICIT training at the jail, advising them that asbestos 

had been found in the facility. The letter lists a 

number of locations where asbestos has been 

identified and goes on to say that 

existing legislation requires the 

employer to notify employees who 

“worked on or in the identified 

areas…” The letter also states that 

there “are currently no indicators 

to suggest that staff have been 

‘exposed’ to friable material.” 

What’s missing from the 

employer’s letter? 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

The employer does not say that it was aware of 

the presence of asbestos at Mimico since at least 

1993 and apparently chose not to warn workers 

or to take measures to reduce the risks of 

exposure between 1993 and 2004. 

The employer does not say that it had a copy of a 

comprehensive asbestos investigation done in 

March 2003 and chose to do nothing with that 

report either. 

The employer does not say how it developed the 

list of employees to be notified. 

The employer does not say which workers may 

have had the greatest chance of exposure. 

Why are workers just finding out about 

possible asbestos exposures now? 

♦ It is not at all clear what happened between 1993 

and now. The Ministry of Labour has a copy of at 

least one field visit report in 1993 when a small 

asbestos removal job was completed at Mimico. 

The Ministry of Labour reports that they came to 

the site to observe the asbestos removal and 

made no orders at that time. They state that they 

have no other asbestos reports from Mimico until 

2003. The employer denies having any asbestos 

reports prior to 2003; in particular the employer 

says it has no asbestos documentation from 1993. 

♦ In the fall of 2004, OPSEU Joint Health 

and Safety Committee members 

discovered the 2003 asbestos report 

which led them to demand an 

explanation from the employer and 

to eventually call in the Ministry of 

Labour for assistance to ensure that 

the employer was taking 

appropriate action. 

What does the 2003 asbestos investigation 

report show? 

♦ 

♦ 

In a nutshell, the report shows that there is a lot 

of asbestos throughout the facility, much of it 

exposed and much of it in poor to fair condition. 

The report documents 58 sites where asbestos 

was found, most of it in the form of insulation to 

pipes and to pipe fittings. 

Asbestos was considered to be in “good” 

condition in just 40 per cent of the locations. 

“Good” condition means that the asbestos is 

completely wrapped and there are no signs that 

the wrapping has been penetrated down to the 

asbestos. In this condition, asbestos fibres should 

not crumble off and be released into the air. 


In Solidarity 16


♦ 

from the exposed pipes/pipe fittings above their 

heads. 

It is not clear how much exposure other workers 

may have had over the years at Mimico and it is 

not possible to calculate those exposures now. 

However, as stated above, there is a lot of 

asbestos throughout the buildings, much of it is 

exposed and much of it was found not to be in 

good condition in 2003. 

♦ 

♦ 

In about 44 per cent of the locations, asbestos 

was found to be in either “fair” or “poor” 

condition (24 per cent was fair, 20 per cent was 

poor). Fair condition means that the asbestos is 

exposed or that its wrapping has minor damage 

so there is a hazard that asbestos fibres could be 

released into the air where they may be inhaled. 

Poor condition means that there is more 

significant damage to the wrapping, exposing the 

asbestos and that there is obvious damage to the 

asbestos. 

Twenty-one of the areas where asbestos was 

found were areas frequently entered by 

maintenance. An additional 28 areas had exposed 

asbestos that was accessible using a ladder. 

What does this mean for someone who 

worked at Mimico Correctional Centre? 

♦ 

♦ 

Although there is no amount of asbestos 

exposure that has been determined to be “safe,” it 

is reasonable to believe that higher exposures for 

longer durations are more dangerous. 

Consequently, the groups of workers identified 

by the employer (Maintenance and ICIT), in 

consultation with the Ministry of Labour, may be 

those at greater risk of eventually developing an 

asbestos-related illness. 

Maintenance workers have the possibility of 

asbestos exposure if they were working directly 

with or around pipes and pipe fittings insulated 

with asbestos. The ICIT members who trained at 

Mimico have been identified because some of 

their training took place in an area with 

documented asbestos and one part of their 

training involved setting off explosive devices 

that may have dislodged loose (friable) asbestos 

What should I do if I used to work at 

Mimico and I am concerned about possible 

asbestos exposures? 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

Contact the Health and Safety Unit at OPSEU 

Head office (contact information below) for 

additional information. 

The employer’s letter encourages those who 

receive it to provide names of those who are not 

listed. The Mimico contact is Deputy 

Superintendent Christine Eden. 

When you next see your family physician advise 

her/him that you may have had asbestos 

exposures at work and request that this be noted 

in your medical record. Discuss the possibility of 

having a baseline chest x-ray to establish that you 

have no asbestos-related changes in your lungs at 

this time. It takes many years, often more than 

20, before any asbestos-related health effects 

become apparent. 

Complete a “Worker’s Exposure Incident Form” 

available on-line from the Workplace Safety and 

Insurance Board (WSIB) at: www.wsib.on.ca/ 

wsib/wsibsite.nsf/public/FormsWorkers This 

form has been developed by the WSIB to 

encourage workers to document exposures to 

infectious diseases, chemicals or other substances 

which did not cause an illness at the time of 

exposure, but may result in an illness or disease 

in the future. The filing of the form begins the 

necessary paper trail if sometime in the future 

you become ill. 

If there are a large number of workers, present 

and former, who have health concerns, it is 

possible for OPSEU to involve the Occupational 

Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW). 

The OHCOW clinics have occupational health 


In Solidarity 17


physicians and nurses, as well as other 

professional staff with expertise in occupational 

health and asbestos exposures. Staff at the 

OHCOW clinic may be able to give more 

complete information than some family doctors 

who will not be as familiar with asbestos 

exposures and possible health effects. 

What is OPSEU doing about this issue? 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

Your brothers and sisters at the local level on the 

JHSC and the local executive are working hard to 

ensure that the employer now deals with the 

asbestos problem appropriately and quickly. 

Another asbestos investigation has been 

completed and removal and repair (known as 

asbestos remediation) is well underway. OPSEU 

local representatives have been present during 

the investigation and have raised critical 

questions during the remediation. They have also 

been in frequent contact with the Ministry of 

Labour inspectors and hygienists seeking 

assistance and notifying them of problems. 

At OPSEU head office the Health and Safety 

Unit staff have been collecting information from 

the local, the Ministry of Labour and the 

employer, and offering advice to the local. 

OPSEU members of the Provincial Health and 

Safety Committee are also aware and are offering 

advice. 

If Mimico workers, past and present, wish to 

consult with an occupational health professional, 

please contact the Health and Safety Unit at 

OPSEU and we will coordinate a plan with the 

OHCOW clinics. 

For more information, please contact the Health 

and Safety Unit staff at OPSEU Head Office: 416- 

443-8888 x 8772 or 8774; 1-800-268-7376 

To get a copy of the WSIB Worker’s Exposure 

Incident Form, either go to the WSIB website at: 

www.wsib.on.ca/wsib/wsibsite.nsf/public/ 

FormsWorkers or call the following numbers: 

416-344-1010 or 1-800-465-9646. 

Lower your 

heating bill and 

help our 

environment 

CAW/CALM 

How’s your heating bill this winter? Lower it and 

contribute to Canada’s support for the Kyoto 

Protocol. 

One easy and effective step you can take to 

decrease greenhouse gases is to take advantage of 

the federal Energuide for Houses program that will 

increase the energy efficiency of your home. And the 

good news is the federal government will pay part of 

the renovation costs through a home retrofit grant. 

Green Communities Canada is a national network 

of more than 40 non-profit organizations that deliver 

innovative, practical environmental solutions to 

Canadian households and communities. 

To date, Green Communities has helped more 

than 30,000 Canadian homeowners make their 

homes more energy efficient. Getting an energuide 

done and making the recommended retrofits is a 

painless and rewarding way to do that. 

• The average homeowner saves more than 30 

percent in heating/cooling costs each and every year 

after retrofits are made. 

• For annual heating costs of $2,000 this means 

more than $600 savings per year. 

• The average homeowner receives a $620 rebate 

from the federal government. 

• Your home is warmer and more comfortable, as 

drafts are eliminated. 

• Making the retrofits increases the value of your 

home. 

• The average homeowner reaps 3.8 tonnes of CO2 

reductions thereby, more than meeting the One 

Tonne Challenge. 

In Solidarity 18 

Read more about Green Communities at 

www.gca.ca or call 1-888-661-1000. The federal 

government web site can be found at http:// 

oee.nrcan.gc.ca/houses-maisons ☺

Long time activist, 

Ruth Galinis retires 

by Patricia Pihlaja, Local 601 

O PSEU local 601 recently presented member 

and steward, Ruth Galinis with a certificate awarding 

her with a Lifetime Membership with OPSEU on her 

retirement. 

Ruth started working with the province as a 

Human Rights Officer in 1980, which was, then with 

the Ministry of Labour. She then went to work with 

the Native Community Branch, which was with the 

Ministry of Citizenship and Culture and finally with 

the Regional Services Branch as a regional 

Consultant with the Ministries of Citizenship and 

Immigration, Ministry of Culture and Ministry of 

Tourism and Recreation. 

Since she began working for the Ontario Public 

Service, Ruth has been active with OPSEU. Prior to 

this, Ruth was active in the Public Service Alliance 

of Canada when she worked with the Federal 

Government prior to working for the province. 

Ruth has enjoyed being a Local 601 

representative to the Sault Ste. Marie and District 

Labour Council and the labour representative on the 

Sault College Board of Governors. When the NDP 

government agreed with the Labour Councils and the 

Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) that one 

position should be earmarked for a labour 

representative on the College Board of Governors. 

Ruth was elected by our local Labour Council to fill 

that role. 

Ruth has also been on a Ministry Enforcement 

and Renewal Committee for at least 20 of those 25 

years in some capacity or another. She has also had 

the opportunity to attend many labour and OPSEU 

sponsored workshops and, at times, assisted OPSEU 

staff with educationals. 

Ruth Galinis (right) accepting certificate from Local 

601 Secretary, Patricia Pihlaja. 

The union has been a part of her life and she 

would like to thank all the members who supported 

her along the way. We at Local 601 will certainly 

miss Ruth and her vast knowledge and expertise. 

Ruth leaves us with this thought by Rosa Parks: 

“It is better to protest than to accept injustice.” ☺ 

In Solidarity 19

Products of teaching? 

by John Oughton, Unfettered, Local 558 

It must be satisfying for a carpenter to revisit a 

fine, polished cabinet he built, or for an assemblyline 

worker to know that she installed critical parts in 

a sleek new sports car whipping by her down the 

street. But teaching is, by its nature, a more 

ephemeral kind of “work”. What do we get to look 

back at as evidence of our “productivity”? 

; 

Put Another Brick in the Wall 

Somehow this reminds me of an obscure fact 

about Winston Churchill: as a break from running a 

country and a war, he liked to lay bricks. His mortar 

and trowel were not aimed at necessary structures, 

but simply applied to the pleasure of sticking one 

row of bricks atop another in a plumb line. Probably 

there was a concrete and immediate satisfaction to a 

nice, free-standing red brick wall that compensated 

for the frustrations he encountered in politics and 

bureaucracy most days. 

I’ve been teaching pretty much full-time since 

1988. What are my products that I can look back on 

with pleasure? Certainly, I’ve churned out my share 

of course outlines, grade sheets, and essay 

comments, but those don’t seem very important in 

the long run. I do recall one woman student who said 

to me at the end of an English course “Finally I know 

how to use a semi-colon!” That may not be much in 

the cosmic scale of things, but it’s something – a step 

beyond the student who scrawls on the evaluation 

form didn’t learn a thing”. 

Books? What books? 

More significant was an exchange I had with a 

student in a technical writing course. I asked him 

what he liked to 

read. He said he 

didn’t read 

anything for 

pleasure, and consulted textbooks only when 

absolutely forced to. “Ok, then what do you do for 

fun?” I asked. He turned out to be a devotee of roleplaying 

games like Dungeons and Dragons. 

“Have you read The Lord of the Rings?” I asked 

(this was long before Peter Jackson’s award-winning 

movies). He hadn’t, and when I explained that it was 

a trilogy in book form, he asked the wonderful 

question: “Where to you find books?” I 

diplomatically suggested a library or bookstore, and 

a few weeks later he returned, starry-eyed, asking if 

there were any more books like that. 

What made that a teaching product worth 

remembering is that it was also a learning experience 

for me. I realized then something I’d been 

considering less consciously for a while — that the 

most important thing we transfer as teachers is 

probably not facts, theories, or models – however 

brilliant and timely they may seem. In line with the 

famous aphorism “Give a hungry man a fish, and 

you’ve fed him for a day. Teach him to fish, and 

you’ve fed him for a lifetime”, I thought that the 

greatest gift we can give to students is not an idea or 


In Solidarity 20

Products of teaching 


even a perfect understanding of the semi-colon: it’s 

an attitude, the love of a subject or of learning itself. 

Doing the Domains 

Bloom divided learning into three domains: 

cognitive, psychomotor and affective. We put a lot of 

effort into our jobs to develop students in the first 

domain (understanding, reasoning, criticizing, etc.) 

and the second one when relevant (hands-on skills 

like drawing, mechanics, massage, etc.) but often 

given scant attention to the affective. 

But what do you remember from the teachers who 

had the most impact on you during your own school 

career? It is the best explanation of macroeconomics 

or the Theory of Relativity you ever heard, or is it 

the Profs who genuinely loved learning about their 

subject and made you feel the same way? 

If I can look back at my years of teaching work 

when I retire, and recall a few more faces lit up with 

the same passion I feel for writing, reading and 

literature, then I’ll know I didn’t just go through the 

motions. I helped some students find their own 

pleasures, whatever the subject-bricks and learningmortar 

turned out to be. ☺ 

Glossary 

of terms 

Rainbow Alliance, OPSEU 

Heterosexism — A form of oppression based on the 

belief that heterosexual relationships are the norm 

and therefore, superior to lesbian, gay and bisexual 

relationships. This belief consistently reinforces 

itself, in all aspects of society, by the rigid 

imposition of gender roles. This includes legal and 

social discrimination against homosexuals and the 

denial of human rights. 

Homophobia — The irrational fear and hatred of 

any sexual expression between people of the same 

gender, lesbians, gay men and bisexual people, their 

communities and culture. 

Lesbian — A woman who is attracted to women. A 

lesbian is a woman who prefers other women on 

many levels –emotionally, intellectually and sexually 

– and defines herself as a lesbian. 

Gay man — A man who is attracted to men. A gay 

man prefers other men on many levels—emotionally, 

intellectually and sexually— and defines himself as 

gay. 


Bisexual — A bisexual is a woman or man who 

forms her/his primary loving and sexual relations 

with members of both or either gender—someone 

who has continuing affection, emotional, romantic, 

and/or erotic preference for people of both sexes. 

Transgendered — Someone who is not comfortable 

with or who rejects in whole or in part their assigned 

gender identity. 

Transsexual — Someone who has strong and 

persistent feeling that they are living in the wrong 

sex. A male transsexual has a need to live as a 

woman and a female transsexual has a need to live as 

a man. Some, but not all, transsexuals choose to have 

sex re-assignment surgery; some use hormone 

therapy.

Tsunami coffee 

connections 

Fair trade tea and coffee links 

Canadians to post-tsunami 

recovery. 

With permission from Andrea Markey 

In the wake of the deadly tsunamis, economies 

must be re-built in Asia. But this time ethics should 

be part of the brew. 

More than one month after the tsunamis hit 

Southeast Asia, a businessman in 

Wolfville is anxiously waiting for 

more news from the people who 

helped him build his company. 

Jeff Moore, one of the founders of 

the Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op, 

says 90 per cent of the tea they carry 

is grown and packaged near the 

disaster region in Sri Lanka. They 

also purchase 10 per cent of their 

coffee beans from Indonesia’s Aceh 

province. The beans are used for their “Rise Again” 

medium-roast blend, which they sell in Canadian 

grocery stores, restaurants and in the company’s 

three cafés. 

Nestled in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley, 

Debbie and Jeff Moore, David and Jane Mangle, and 

Ria March formed the co-operative in 1995. They 

buy organic tea and un-roasted beans at fair trade 

prices from farmers in the Developing World, roast 

the java themselves, and sell it throughout Canada. 

With total sales of $2.7 million last year, the coffee 

and tea purchased from Asia represents a significant 

portion of their supply. The rest of their coffee 

comes from Mexico and Central America. 

Although there is still no accounting for the scale 

of the suffering experienced by the people Moore 

The “Just Us” fair trade 

co-op is providing US 

$10,000 to begin 

rebuilding workers’ 

houses, but it is the coop’s 

long term 

commitment to the 

region that may help 

rebuild hope. 

works with, an impression of their tragedy is 

emerging. Most of the organic coffee Just Us! 

purchases from Aceh grows in shady mountainous 

areas, so the coffee trees still stand. But the 

catastrophe shook the lives of the people who make 

their living from them. Many workers lost family and 

homes, and a supervisor at one of the tea-growing 

projects died. A tea packaging centre along the Sri 

Lankan coast is being used as a make-shift hospital. 

Just Us!, itself a workers’ co-op, operates 

according to a fair trade model in which their South 

Asian coffee and tea producers receive 

a mutually agreed upon “just” price. 

In the wake of the disaster, the co-op 

is providing US$10,000 to begin 

rebuilding workers’ houses while also 

fundraising in Nova Scotian cafés and 

communities. But it is the co-op’s 

long-term commitment to the region 

that may help re-build hope. 

“Many of the people directly 

affected by the tsunami were some of 

the most exploited,” says Jeff Moore. “It’s a situation 

where the hotel owners and tourism operators along 

the coast get rich while those around them struggle to 

survive.” 

The international aid being directed to tsunamiaffected 

countries will help in the short-term, he 

says, but will do little to benefit the long-term 

economy. “The inequality will remain,” he says, 

“only fair wages can transform lives.” 

When Moore first visited Southeast Asia in 1998, 

he saw how fairer wages can change lives in the 

producing communities. Before an alternative trade 

relationship was established, he argues the economic 

model being used was reminiscent of colonial 

slavery, with people treated as “less than human.” 


In Solidarity 22

Tsunami coffee connections 


There was instability and the associated 

alcoholism and mental health problems because 

people simply did not earn enough to live, notes 

Moore. Although his co-operative is only a small 

piece of the puzzle, after 10 years it has made a 

difference in many lives. “We try to turn the system 

on its head by using fair wages to allow people to 

survive, build adequate housing and access health 

care,” he says. 

Coffee is the second most traded commodity in 

the world after oil. Although fair trade coffee makes 

up less than one-half of one percent of world coffee 

sales, it is a trade model that is growing. 

Encouraging consumers to purchase fairly is 

something Olga Gladkikh believes must be 

promoted. The adult educator and community 

development advisor at St. Francis Xavier 

University’s Coady International Institute in 

Antigonish says any time resources return a fair price 

to the producer, the benefits are felt at the local level. 

“Sugar, coffee, tea – these are all products 

produced in the global South, largely for 

consumption by the global North,” she says. “And 

without fair trade most of the profit flows North with 

the products.” 

With coffee prices at a 30 year low, small farmers 

are forced to sell their coffee to non-fair trade buyers 

for a price that is less than the cost of growing it, 

says Heather Weinrich, of Transfair Canada, the nonprofit 

certifying body for fair trade products sold in 

Canada. 

“To finance the next year’s crop, the farmers then 

have to take out high-interest loans from 

moneylenders,” she says. “With fair trade, farmers 

have access to low or no-interest loans in addition to 

receiving a just price.” 

“Just Us! has a small share of the market,” admits 

Moore, “but it is a model that works for us and for 

our producers, and it’s something the world should 

push for as Southeast Asia rebuilds.” 

♦ Andrea Markey is a journalist based in Nova 

Scotia. Related links: www.cuso.org, 

www.justuscoffee.com, www.transfair.ca, and 

www.maketradefair.com 

In Solidarity 23

y Rose Murrell, Local 278 

W ho would have thought a year ago that I would 

be given the unique opportunity to share my thoughts 

and observations on Convention 2005! 

I am a member of one of the “newbie” locals – 

Local 278 to be precise. We are comprised of over 

400 members of Casino Security. Our Local 

President, Jody Hutton, invited me to attend along 

with Local V.P. Joanne Sheehan and Treasurer, 

Chris Rittenhouse. I jumped at the 

chance! 

We arrived on Wednesday with 

time to spare and had time to get 

settled before registering. At 

registration, I happily accepted my 

“Delegate” badge and hung it proudly 

around my neck. I don’t think I fully 

grasped the importance of this being 

an election year and I soon realized 

that regions were like quasi-political 

lines. That being said, it didn’t stop 

me from visiting each and every hospitality 

suite….good thing I wasn’t driving. 

Thursday arrived and it was time to start the 

show. I was amazed at the number in attendance. 

OPSEU President Leah Casselman welcomed the 

delegates to the Convention, which also marked the 

30 th Anniversary of OPSEU being a full-fledged 

union. 

On this day, only two resolutions were passed, 

however, the budget did not. It was back to the 

drawing board for the Executive Board. This was 

also the day to nominate people for the positions of 

President and 1 st Vice President/Treasurer. Leah 

Casselman was the incumbent for the President 

position and her challengers were Bob Eaton and 

Richard Larcher. In the position of V.P/Treasurer, 

Smokey Thomas was the incumbent and his 

challengers were John O’Brien and Ron Elliott. Each 

nominee was given the opportunity to address the 

delegates before the vote. During the lunch break 

questions were drawn to be read during the afternoon 

Bear Pit Session. What an electrifying session that 

was. 

On Friday morning it was time to vote. It was so 

exciting! Delegates had to go to a second ballot for 

both positions. Presidential incumbent, Leah 

Casselman, was re-elected for an amazing sixth term 

and V.P./Treasurer, incumbent, Smokey 

Thomas, was also re-elected. 

It was turning into a long day and we 

still had the banquet that evening. 

Things finally wrapped up at about 5 

p.m. and it was time to get gussied up 

for the dinner, but not before my 

contingent headed to the Region 2 

Hospitality Suite to celebrate the 

retirement of Chris Madill (Region 2 

Executive Board Member). Leah 

stopped by and both women were 

presented with blue and white corsages which they 

proudly wore to the dinner that night. Dinner was 

delicious and it required that I take a quick nap 

before the hospitality suites. I called it an early night 

since the budget still needed to be dealt with. 

On Saturday the budget was finally accepted after 

some debate. Luckily it was taken care of before 

lunch so we maintained quorum. 

All in all, OPSEU Convention 2005 was one of 

the most interesting, exciting, and educational 

experiences I’ve had in a while. I met so many 

terrific people from various regions and I hope to 

have this opportunity again in 2006. Even the false 

fire-alarms, two nights in a row, didn’t dampen my 

spirits. ☺ 

In Solidarity 24

Hospital Professionals Division 

Stressed Out? 

Workload Got You Down? 

Take Your Break! 

It’s not easy being a hospital professional. 

Whether you are a physiotherapist, x-ray or 

laboratory technologist, pharmacy technician, or 

work in one of the other critically important hospital 

professions, the complexity and responsibility of the 

work is demanding enough. But if you are 

continually stretched because there aren’t enough 

people to do the work and the work just keeps 

growing, then something’s going to break. 

Make sure it isn’t you. 

Take your break. It’s right there in your collective 

agreement – one 15 minute relief period for 

each half shift. 

It may seem like a small measure, when what you 

really want is proper recognition and enough people 

to do the work. But taking this small step will 

actually give you a bit of time just for you. 

And it tells your hospital you are only human and 

need a break. 

Claim Your Overtime! 

As a hospital professional, you are dedicated to 

your work. Whether you are a dietitian, a laboratory 

assistant, an MRI technologist, or one of the 

hundreds of other critically important hospital 

professionals, you take pride in doing your job well. 

Often there is not enough staff to do the work that 

needs to be done. Sometimes your employer asks 

you to work overtime, and pays you the overtime 

premium for your time. But how often have you 

skipped your break, or stayed late; or, depending on 

the work, even taken it home – all without claiming 

for overtime? 

It’s possible that your hospital is counting on you 

to do the extra work. This way the employer doesn’t 

have to hire the real complement of staff that it 

actually takes to do the job. 

If, instead, you claimed for this time, or didn’t do 

the extra work at all, you just might convince the 

hospital to recruit enough staff to do the work. 

Think about it: If you do extra work, claim it, or 

better yet, don’t do it at all. 

You may find that you have more time for 

yourself and your family and more energy for your 

normal shift. 

Don’t just complain - File a 

workload complaint. 

Members in virtually every profession in the 

Hospital Professionals Division deal with the 

combined strain of staff shortages and staggering 

workloads. As professionals, we take pride in doing 

our job well, but this gets harder to do in the 

circumstances we work in. Many of us feel that 

the health care service we provide is not the way it 

should be. Many of us are afraid of making 

mistakes in our work. Sometimes we do make 

mistakes. 

Our collective agreement has a section on 

professional responsibility that gives us a way to 

complain about our workload. Here’s how it works: 

If you are stressed out and feel you are being asked 

to do more than is consistent with proper patient 

care, meet with your OPSEU local and fill out a 

workload complaint form. OPSEU will discuss the 

issue with the hospital at the labour management 

committee. If the issue is not resolved there, your 

union will discuss it with the CEO of the hospital. 

Some Hospital Professionals Division locals have 

been successful in convincing the hospital to hire 

additional staff to deal with the workload. Others are 

still working on it. Some have not been successful, 

but at least they tried. ☺ 

In Solidarity 25

New Ways to Welcome 

New Workers 

R emember your first day on the job? OK, if 

you can’t remember back that far, then imagine it. 

All those new faces and names. Bluffing your way 

through the first few days. It’s a rough time. 

And it’s the stewards’ prime time to build the 

union among workers who may not even know what 

a union is. And these days, technology, like digital 

cameras and the Internet, can help you become more 

effective than ever. 

Have a Plan 

meet you at lunchtime or after work so you can talk 

more freely and with no time pressures. 

Deliver the Goods 

Your orientation packet should include: 

♦ A contract, with a short summary of the latest 

improvements, 

♦ Information about how to find worksite leaders, 

♦ A schedule of union meeting times and places, 

♦ A letter of introduction from the union. 

Some Brief Reminders About Attitude 

Research shows that workers form their opinions 

about their union often within the first few days on 

the job. How do you, as the union’s workplace 

representative, approach new workers? 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

On the first day, does anyone from 

the union greet new workers, or is 

their only “official” greeting from 

their supervisor or another 

representative of management? 

Does your employer sign up new 

workers for the union while they’re 

signing health insurance forms and other kinds of 

routine employer paperwork? 

Who tells new workers where the bathrooms are, 

or which vending machine steals your money and 

which one gives you two sandwiches for the 

price of one? 

If your answers are not, yes and I don’t know, 

you’ve got some room for improvement. 

You can greet new workers at a union negotiated 

new employee orientation session (yes, you can 

negotiate this into your contract) or during a break, 

and you can always tell the new worker where to 

Workers form 

their views about 

unions in their 

first few days on 

the job 

The way you frame issues in that first 

conversation with a new worker can make the 

difference between someone who relates the union to 

problems and strikes, and someone who 

sees the union as a group of people 

working together to improve their 

working lives. So when you talk about 

the union, you’re defining what the union 

is. It’s best not to focus solely on 

problems (“If you get in trouble, contact 

me”) and better to emphasize solutions 

(“Through negotiations, we’ve been able 

to keep our health costs down). 

For example, there’s that familiar approach, 

Union = Good Guy and Management = Bad Buy. 

Remember, a new employee has no reason to think 

the smiling face who just signed up on his health 

benefits is a bad guy. So, while you could say, 

“Management tried to rip us off but we threatened to 

strike and the greedy jerks backed down,” you’ll 

build more credibility with this new person if you try 

this approach instead: “The company pushed real 

hard for a wage freeze last time around, but we 

wouldn’t accept that and they finally saw the light.” 


In Solidarity 26

New ways to Welcome 

New Workers 


Workers will learn for themselves who to trust and 

who not to trust. 

Use New Technology 

In the old days, you handed out a contract and 

maybe a letter from the union. Now, you can give 

the union a face, making it much easier for a new 

worker to find you. If you don’t own a digital 

camera, ask around and you’ll find someone at work 

who does. With a digital camera, you can take photos 

of stewards and leaders inexpensively and put them 

New 

technologies 

can help give 

the union a 

face 

on a leaflet easily. (If you’re still 

gun shy about computers, 

consider enlisting a volunteer, 

maybe the one with the 

camera.) Include a couple of 

sentences (not more!) of 

welcome, along with the name, 

work area and shift of the leaders in 

the photos. If possible, include a phone number and 

the location where leaders usually take breaks, so 

new employees can find them when they need to. 

You’ll want to print out only a few leaflets at a time, 

so you can update them as your stewards or their 

phone numbers change. 

If your local has a Website, especially one with 

frequently asked questions about the union or the 

contract, be sure to include that address too. The 

Web gives workers an opportunity to study the 

contract or their union in the comfort of their own 

homes, at a time convenient to them, without the 

boss looking over their shoulders. 

Technology is doing a lot to our lives, some good 

things and some bad. This is one way to turn 

technology to your advantage, and bring more 

informed members into the union. ☺ 

This article is reprinted courtesy of Union 

Communications Services Inc., 1633 Connecticut 

Ave. NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20009. To 

order a subscription, you can call 1-800-321-2545. 

By agreement between In Solidarity and 

Union Communications Services, this material may 

not be reproduced. 

Are you at risk 

for diabetes? 

Autumn View, OPSEU Retired Members Division 

T he following are factors that could increase 

you risk of diabetes: 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

Being overweight 

Family history of diabetes 

Low activity level 

Over 40 years of age 

Women with a history of gestational diabetes 

and/or had a baby over nine pounds 

High blood pressure or high cholesterol 

Disease of the pancreas 

Aboriginal, Hispanic, African American or Asian 

descent 

Have extra weight around the waist 

What can you do to reduce your risk for diabetes? 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

Eat well balanced diet that is rich in fiber and 

low in fats and calories 

Lose weight by changing your eating habits and 

increasing activity levels 

Exercise regularly. This can be something as 

simple as going for a walk around the block or 

taking stairs. 

Maintain good blood pressure and cholesterol 

control. 

If you smoke, quit. 

Get regular check-ups, including blood glucose 

testing. ☺ 

In Solidarity 27

Work law 

Jurisdiction again 

by Tim Gleason/CALM 

S ince the decision of the Supreme Court of 

Canada in Weber v. Ontario Hydro almost a decade 

ago, arbitrators and courts have agonized over where 

to draw the line on who should deal with what. 

In the old days, things were relatively 

straightforward. Arbitrators decided whether you 

were fired for just cause, and courts 

decided whether you had been 

defamed, battered, or otherwise 

wrongfully dealt with. Then came 

Weber and the Supreme Court 

suggested that maybe arbitrators 

ought to be deciding more and that 

courts should not deal with any 

matter that might have arisen under a 

collective agreement. 

The next thing you know, courts 

were throwing out all kinds of 

claims, from assaults to negligence 

to defamation, because they had some connection to 

a unionized workplace. Arbitrators found themselves 

faced with a whole new range of claims and remedial 

jurisdiction extending to the realm of torts (a tort 

claim is a claim for damages resulting from bad 

behaviour that is not necessarily a breach of contract 

or a collective agreement). 

We started asking them to award damages in new 

areas. And some of them did it, albeit the damages 

were noticeably smaller than what courts usually 

awarded. 

It wasn’t long before some arbitrators, and lots of 

employers, started to question the wisdom of this 

direction. But courts continued to dismiss claims, 

deferring to the arbitrator. 

So we kept asking arbitrators to deal with their 

expanded jurisdiction. Then, a couple of years ago, 

the issue came to a head in Ontario, with one 

arbitrator accepting jurisdiction to deal with 

extensive remedies in Teamsters 419 v. Tenaquip 

and another arbitrator rejecting any jurisdiction to 

deal with torts and aggravated and punitive damages 

in OPSEU v. Seneca College of Applied Arts & 

Technology. The union in the latter case sought 

judicial review, and on November 1, 2004, the 

Ontario Divisional Court quashed 

the arbitrator’s award, indicating that 

she was wrong to limit her 

jurisdiction. 

It appears that the expanded, 

exclusive jurisdiction of arbitrators 

is alive and well in Ontario. In 

addition, a Newfoundland arbitrator 

recently awarded hundreds of 

thousands of dollars in damages for 

bad conduct by an employer. 

Across the country, courts 

continue to refuse to deal with a 

wide range of issues if they originated in a unionized 

workplace. These developments, coupled with the 

steadfast reserve of the Supreme Court of Canada 

each time this issue reaches them, suggest that 

arbitrators will have to deal with a broad range of 

claims. 

Despite ample reasons why labour arbitration may 

not be the best place to deal with tort issues, it 

appears that it is remains the only game in town for 

many claims in a unionized workplace. 

• Tim Gleason practices law with Sack Goldblatt 

Mitchell in Toronto. For more information on 

labour law issues, visit the firm’s web site at 

www.sgmlaw.com 

In Solidarity 28

Supreme Court to hear Charter 

challenge to B.C. law 

Case argues that B.C. premier's 

contract-breaking law was 

unconstitutional 

NUPGE 

The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear 

arguments on whether the Gordon Campbell’s 

contract-breaking law violates the equality and 

freedom of association rights of health care workers 

in British Columbia. 

On trial is Bill 29 – the 2002 legislation that 

shredded legally negotiated collective agreements 

paving the way for an unprecedented privatization of 

health care services and the mass firing of more than 

8,000 health care workers – mostly women. 

The legislation also made it easier for the 

government’s health authorities to close down or 

downgrade health care facilities across the province. 

George Heyman, president of the British 

Columbia Government and Service Employees’ 

Union (BCGEU/NUPGE), says the case is central to 

the preservation of the rights of workers to engage in 

free collective bargaining. 

“This government has treated the collective 

bargaining process with contempt – and has been 

condemned by a United Nations’ agency no less than 

nine times in two years for its poor labour practices,” 

says Heyman. 

“Today’s decision by the Supreme Court of 

Canada to hear our appeal is a clear signal that 

Gordon Campbell is taking B.C. in the wrong 

direction when it comes to labour policy.” 

Joint action by unions 

The BCGEU, the Hospital Employees’ Union, the 

B.C. Nurses’ Union, and several other unions first 

launched their constitutional challenge to Bill 29 – 

the Health and Social Services Delivery Act – in 

March, 2002. 

The challenge was dismissed by the B.C. 

Supreme Court in September, 2003 and by the 

Appeal Court of B.C. in July, 2004. But the Supreme 

Court of Canada decision will now effectively put 

those court decisions on trial. 

The unions’ constitutional challenge to Bill 29 

involves both the equality and freedom of association 

provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and 

Freedoms. 

In seeking leave to appeal the case to the Supreme 

Court of Canada, the unions’ argued that their 

challenge raised questions that are of national and 

public importance. 

One such question is whether certain aspects of 

collective bargaining are protected by the freedom of 

association provisions contained in Section 2(d) of 

the Charter. 

‘Very significant’ 

Joseph Arvay, counsel for the unions, says that 

the “granting of leave is very significant since the 

Supreme Court of Canada had ruled in the late 

1980’s that there is no constitutional right to 

collective bargaining in our Charter and this decision 

today would suggest that the Court might be 

prepared to reconsider that critically important 

constitutional question.” 

Another question raised by the unions is whether 

legislation that targets the collective agreements in 

the most female-dominated sectors of the economy – 

such as health care and community social services – 

violates the equality provisions contained in Section 

15 when the legislation is aimed at depressing wages 

which have been subject to pay equity processes. 

Bill 29 was passed in January, 2002 and voided 

many long-standing provisions of health care and 

community social services collective agreements 

including protections against contracting out, 

seniority rights and labour adjustment programs. 

The Court has not yet scheduled hearing dates but 

is expected to do so in the next few weeks. The case 

will likely be heard later this year or early in 2006. 

The unions’ legal counsel is the B.C.-based firm 

Arvay Finlay. ☺ 

In Solidarity 29

Letter to the Editor 

Unions need to stop 

trying to hedge their 

bets 

I t is flattering to be quoted (In Solidarity, Fall 

Issue, Point — Counterpoint) but it is horrifying 

when your words lead someone to what you consider 

to be the wrong conclusion! 

Sister Sabourin quotes me pointing out the 

uncanny resemblance of the current Liberal 

government to its Tory predecessor and concludes 

that political activity is a losing proposition for 

unions. 

I couldn’t disagree more! If there is a lesson to be 

learned from OPSEU’s political strategy in the last 

two elections, it is that strategic support of a Liberal 

here and a New Democrat there is a bust! Unions 

need to stop trying to hedge their bets and throw 

their support behind the party that, as Brother Palmer 

points out, represents the interests of workers and 

ordinary people! Corporations give generously to the 

two major parties and they get what they pay for! If 

unions fail to support the party that reflects our 

interests, who will speak for us at Queens Park? 

Sister Sabourin concludes by saying that OPSEU 

should not be politically active during elections and 

that we should let the people of Ontario decide. Well, 

Sister, we are the people of Ontario and its time we 

got serious about electing a government that will not 

regard our rights and quality of life as secondary to 

those of corporations and the privileged. Unionism is 

not about the narrow interests of the individual but 

about the collective interests of ordinary people to 

bring about social and economic justice, not just in 

the workplace but throughout the communities in 

which we live our lives! 

In solidarity, 

Marlene Rivier 

President, OPSEU Local 479 

Former NDP candidate 

The Wal-Mart manager’s 

handbook 

BCTGM Report/CALM 

“Staying union free is a full-time commitment. 

“Unless union prevention is a goal equal to other 

objectives within an organization, the goal will 

usually not be attained. The commitment to stay 

union free must exist at all levels of management – 

from the Chairperson of the Board down to front-line 

manager. 

“Therefore, no one in management is immune to 

carrying his or her ‘own weight’ in the union 

prevention effort. The entire management staff 

should fully comprehend and appreciate exactly what 

is expected of their individual efforts to meet the 

union free objective.... Unless each member of 

management is willing to spend the necessary time, 

effort, energy, and money, it will not be 

accomplished. The time involved 

is… 365 days per year.” 

♦ From a handbook Wal-Mart 

distributes to managers 

In Solidarity 30

Generosity, charity and the 

achievement of justice 

by Ken Palmer, In Solidarity 

More than three-quarters of Ontarians make direct 

financial donations to charitable and nonprofit 

organizations, according to the 2000 National Survey 

of Giving, Volunteering, and Participation (NSGVP), 

produced by the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy. 

The average donation in 2000 was $312 in 

Ontario. Those Canadians contributing $213 or more 

annually, accounted for only 25 per cent of all 

donours, but 82 per cent of the value of the 

donations. 

Deciding how to give, and to whom, is not easy. 

How? 

In her 2003 book, Rambam’s Ladder: A 

mediation on generosity and why it is necessary to 

give, Julie Salamon described the steps on a ladder of 

charity developed by the twelfth-century Spanish 

physician, scholar, and rabbi Moses ben Maimon, 

who was also known as Rambam. 

His eight steps are: 

1. giving begrudgingly, with a frowning 

countenance; 

2. giving less than is proper, but cheerfully; 

3. giving after being asked; 

4. giving before being asked, but risking making the 

recipient feel shame; 

5. giving to someone you don’t know, but allowing 

your name to be known; 

6. giving to someone you know, but remaining 

anonymous; 

7. giving to someone you don’t know, 

anonymously; 

8. giving self-reliance: making a gift or a loan, 

entering into a partnership, or finding work for 

the recipient, so that he or she will never have to 

beg again. 

To whom? 

The Canada Revenue Agency operates a website, 

www.cra-arc.gc.ca/dchmf/haif/srch/sec, that 

identifies the amounts that charities devote to 

charitable programs and gifts, as well as their 

management, administrative, and fundraising 

expenses. At the website, click on ASrch, Main 

Menu (English)@; type in the name of the charity 

you want to investigate; click on the SEARCH 

button; click on the icon in the AInformation 

return@ column; click on the most recent year; and 

finally, for years since 2003, scroll down to lines 

5000 (Total charitable programs expenditures), 5050 

(Total gifts to qualified donees), and 5100 (Total 

expenditures). For years prior to 2003, look for lines 

120 (Expenditures on charitable works the charity 

itself carried out), 121 (Gifts to qualified donees), 

and 128 (Total disbursements). Add lines 5000 and 

5050 (or 120 and 121), and divide by line 5100 (or 

128), to yield what the Toronto Star calls a Agood 

works percentage@ (GWP), which should be at least 

60 percent. For example, in 2002 or 2003, the GWP 

for UNICEF was 62 per cent; the Stephen Lewis 

Foundation, 73 per cent; Oxfam, 74 per cent; 

Doctors without Borders, 81 per cent and the Terry 

Fox Foundation, 86 per cent. 

Note that these examples are all national, secular 

charities making tens of millions of dollars in 

disbursements. The only exception was the Stephen 

Lewis Foundation, which is newly established, so its 

relatively low GWP might reflect start-up costs and a 

much smaller revenue base to date (approximately 

$325,000 in 2003). 

With respect to Rambam’s Ladder, donations to 

these charities would be at step 5. However, part of 

Care Canada’s mandate is providing access to credit 

and assisting poor farmers in developing long-term 

solutions to hunger and poverty, which would be at 

step 8. ☺ 

In Solidarity 31

2005 Editors’ 

Weekend 

I t’s coming Oct. 21, 22 and 23: OPSEU’s annual 

Editors’ Weekend. 

The three-day session of skills workshops and 

mingling with other local union editors has produced 

a lot of strong leaders for the union. Participants in 

past sessions are producing newsletters that routinely 

win national awards for excellence. 

Workshops will cover different aspects of writing 

– leaflets; editing and writing news stories. Others 

will cover ways to improve newsletter design. 

Another series of workshops will explore 

technology – how to work with digital images and 

how to use the program, Publisher, to create better 

newsletters. 

The weekend will also feature an awards dinner 

where the best of OPSEU newsletters and web pages 

will be recognized. 

There is also a series of workshops for new 

editors, designed to give people the starter kit for 

local union communications. 

“The skills that members learn in the Editors’ 

Weekend have been invaluable in our activities in 

the last decade,” said Casselman. “Local editors have 

taken the lead in strike communication when 

required, and have taken up the challenge of media 

relations and mobilizing to safeguard our contracts 

and our job security.” 

You can download the application forms for the 

Editors’ Weekend and the entry forms for the 

newsletter and website awards from the OPSEU web 

page – www.opseu.org ☺ 

Ontario Public Service Employees Union 

100 Lesmill Road, Toronto, Ontario. M3B 3P8 

www.opseu.org / www.sefpo.org 


ISSN 1201-5245

IN SOLIDARITY - OPSEU

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