Dear friends:

Your union is moving forward to challenge Dalton McGuinty’s plan to freeze (cut) your wages. This is just a quick note to give you an update on what happened this week.

As you may know, on Monday, Sept. 13, the Executive Board held a special meeting of OPSEU local presidents, sector leaders from the Ontario Public Service, the Broader Public Service, and the colleges, and the chairs of our equity committees. The purpose of the meeting was to decide whether or not to engage in consultations with the province and our employers around the government’s policy to implement a two-year compensation freeze.

At the meeting we heard presentations from experts on the legalities of the wage freeze and the economics – and the politics – behind the wage cuts.  We broke into five caucuses (OPS, OPS Corrections, BPS, CAAT-A and CAAT-S) to consider the issues before us.  We had a terrific, wide-ranging debate on the best options available to protect our wages and the work we do in communities across the province.

Following up on the meeting, the OPSEU Executive Board met. We passed the motion below to set out the path we will follow in the weeks ahead. The Board motion has directed that we engage the government in discussions to explore possible resolutions to the conflict between the government’s wage freeze policy and our union’s obvious interest in maintaining fair and equitable compensation for our members.

To take part in this exercise, the union will deploy a team of sector leaders and staff, led by the President, to meet with the province and employers in the coming weeks.

Nothing in these discussions will prejudice our right to free collective bargaining. As per the memberships’ stated wishes and the Executive Board's direction, no agreements will be made without the prior approval of the bargaining units affected.

I’m very pleased to tell you the Board made one other decision that is vital to defending your interests.

Yesterday we voted unanimously to approve a plan that I presented, seconded by First Vice-President/Treasurer Patty Rout, to intensify and broaden our union’s campaign against the whole wage freeze policy. The campaign will be well funded and far reaching. We will connect with our members, other unions, and our communities. We will talk to opposition MPPs and call on every Liberal MPP to explain why any OPSEU member should support a government that denies basic fairness to close to a million workers.

I believe that the government has only just begun to realize the difficulties involved in the wage freeze plan. Yesterday, an independent arbitrator ruled that the government could not unilaterally freeze the wages of 17,000 nursing home workers represented by the Service Employees International Union. This has huge implications, not only for the entire health care sector, but for other negotiations as well. This puts a lot of pressure on the McGuinty government.

If you ask me, the government’s wage freeze plan already has one wheel in the ditch. With an extra push from us, it will be right off the road.

Thank you for all your work so far. For more information on the wage freeze, please read our new wage freeze Q&A and our new brochure online. Then stay tuned for further information about how we will roll out this campaign.

In solidarity,
Warren (Smokey) Thomas
President, Ontario Public Service Employees Union