If there’s one word that defines OPSEU’s vision for Ontario, it’s fairness.
As a union, OPSEU believes in fair treatment in the workplace so that all working people can live decently, raise their children the way they want to, and retire with dignity. As a public service union, we believe that public services play a vital role in the well-being of all citizens, and that they should be available to all citizens, rich and poor.
This focus on fairness explains why we support tax fairness to ensure that public services have the funding they need. It explains why we oppose privatization, which drives profits up but wages down. It explains why we support labour laws designed to help workers succeed at the bargaining table, and why we support strong employment standards for workers who aren’t in unions. It explains why we support pay equity and equal pay for equal work.
Fairness is also the key to building an economy that works. Right now, Canada’s corporations are sitting on more than $626 billion in cash that they are not investing. Why? Because their customers are all broke, up to their eyeballs in debt. For more than 30 years, right-wing policies like free trade, tax cuts, privatization, and attacks on union rights have resulted in stagnant wages for working people – in the private sector and the public sector alike.
There is a better way, set out in our latest publication. Building Our Future Together: A Vision for a Fair Ontario look at where we are, how we got here, and the policy ideas that can make our province a fairer place.
It’s a blueprint for our work in the years ahead. Read it, share it, talk about it. Let’s build our future together – and work for a fair Ontario.
In solidarity,
Eduardo Almeida
First Vice-President/Treasurer, OPSEU