President's Message

Labour Day message

Rights for part-timers, contingent workers
Labour's biggest challenge
 

August 29, 2008

Labour Day offers us a time to celebrate our accomplishments as unionists, and also reflect on the state of our working world.

As Ontario loses its manufacturing base, well-paying full time jobs are being replaced with lower-paid part-time jobs in the service and retail sectors. This is a worldwide trend as manufacturing is being shifted to low-wage countries.

Part-time workers don’t have the job security or benefits enjoyed by full-timers, and often have to work two or three jobs to make ends meet.

And public sector workers are not immune: The trend to part-time casual and “precarious” work is happening there, too. Consider:

• More than 60 per cent of LCBO employees are part-time casual or temporary. This enables the retailer to extend its hours and staff at peak periods, but it plays havoc with our members’ lives.

• Hospitals and health care agencies straining to keep within budget are increasing using part-timers to supplement chronic staff shortages.

• The number of part-timers at Ontario’s community colleges outnumbers the number of full-time employees. These workers have been legally excluded from collective bargaining, a historical wrong that OPSEU is working hard to change.

As we celebrate on Labour Day 2008, we should keep in mind that there is a lot of union work to be done for part-time workers. Indeed, it’s our biggest challenge in the years ahead.

In solidarity,

Warren (Smokey) Thomas

President