IN SOLIDARITY - OPSEU

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(Continued from page 7) 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
Page 1 and 2: IN SOLIDARITY The newsletter for OP
Page 3 and 4: This point-form history of OPSEU hi
Page 5 and 6: (Continued from page 4) organizing
Page 7: (Continued from page 6) 1994 ♦ OP
Page 11 and 12: (Continued from page 10) employers
Page 13 and 14: Local 278 establishes ‘Hardship F
Page 15 and 16: y Len Mason, In Solidarity O ne of
Page 17 and 18: (Continued from page 16) ♦ from t
Page 19 and 20: Long time activist, Ruth Galinis re
Page 21 and 22: Products of teaching (Continued fro
Page 23 and 24: Tsunami coffee connections (Continu
Page 25 and 26: Hospital Professionals Division Str
Page 27 and 28: New ways to Welcome New Workers (Co
Page 29 and 30: Supreme Court to hear Charter chall
Page 31 and 32: Generosity, charity and the achieve

IN SOLIDARITY - OPSEU

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