Their managers went to great lengths to stop them, but all 150 of the LifeLabs couriers, mail room clerks, and dispatchers across the GTA have now stood up for themselves and joined together in OPSEU/SEFPO.
“I’m so inspired by our newest members,” said OPSEU/SEFPO President Warren (Smokey) Thomas. “It’s always incredible to see workers standing up for their Constitutional rights, especially in the face of an employer that’s pulling every trick in the book to stop them.
“But they didn’t back down, and neither did we. And now we’re all stronger together.”
The latest group of LifeLabs employees to join OPSEU/SEFPO work out of the private lab-testing company’s Ohio Road location in Richmond Hill. The workers had originally voted on unionizing seven months ago. But instead of letting their votes be counted, the company challenged the vote with the Ontario Labour Relation Board on a technicality.
Once that technicality had been resolved, the Ohio Road workers voted again, and the majority had voted yes to OPSEU/SEFPO. They join all of the other couriers, mail room clerks and dispatchers across Toronto and surrounding cities in the union.
“I can’t think of a better way for these workers to set themselves up for the New Year and all the other years to come,” said OPSEU/SEFPO First Vice-President/Treasurer Eduardo (Eddy) Almeida. “This employer showed itself capable of treating its workers right when it decided to pay out pandemic bonuses to all its workers – bonuses that we’re not collecting dues on.
“But it’s also shown itself capable of treating workers with derision and disrespect. By joining our great union, all of these couriers, mail room clerks, and dispatchers will be in a much stronger position to always demand and get the respect they deserve.”