Weblog

OPSEU/SEFPO condemns all acts of violence against civilians, and the alarming rise of Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism in Canada and around the world. As members of the labour movement, our national union National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) and the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), we’re sharing the following statements, which call for a...

Region 6 has raised an impressive $13,335 for its region’s Hardship Fund, dedicated to helping members who are facing financial difficulties. According to Mandi McNeil, the Region 6 Hardship Committee Chair, the funds were raised following a challenge to local presidents that any donations would be matched by OPSEU/SEFPO’s Executive Board. The group was able...

Communities across Ontario, including municipalities, NGOs, affordable housing advocates, and environmental groups, are speaking out against Doug Ford’s attack on the Greenbelt and you are invited to have your say in an important survey on the environment, housing, and Ontario public policy, which is being conducted by SPR Associates. Doug Ford’s Bill 23 destroys the...

Last month, members of OPSEU/SEFPO Local 542 Ferrovial Services Canada Highway Maintenance gathered to vote on the ratification of their first contract and to honour the memory bargaining team member Paul Soave. Paul Soave was remembered by his colleagues as a kind-hearted, passionate and dedicated advocate for workers’ rights. “He was an integral part of...

As attendees gather at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montreal to develop solutions to save our ecosystems for future generations, the people of Ontario are sending a message to Doug Ford to get his “Hands off the Greenbelt” and stop his undemocratic assault on the environment and protected green space. The Ontario Public Service...

Photos from the information rally outside the Quinte Detention Centre on Monday, November 22.  Members of OPSEU/SEFPO Local 467 standing strong together to send a message to bosses that union-busting and punishment for union activity must end!  

Friends, I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself when I saw our record high membership numbers last month and thought of those naysayers and elitists from the right and big business who have been saying for decades that the labour movement is declining and one day unions will be a thing of the past.   ...

First of all, I’m hoping all of you in our OPSEU family are able to take some well-deserved time off to relax and enjoy the long days and warm temperatures with your family and friends.   This may be the eye of the storm in what has been an unprecedented year so far, unlike anything...

Friends,  We are living in unsettled and uncertain times. The pandemic. The threat of austerity and cutbacks. Urgent new calls to finally confront systemic racism.  But let me tell you: OPSEU is facing all of these challenges head-on. And as it’s done so many times over its long history, OPSEU and its members will deliver.  Honestly,...

Millions of Black people around the world, face discrimination because of their colour of their skin. We often celebrate Canada as a multicultural country. But that doesn’t mean that racial discrimination doesn’t live here. That doesn’t mean that systemic racism isn’t in every workplace, and in every sector.  That doesn’t mean that Black people in...

More than 1,000 Ontarians have written to their politicians demanding a return to public plowing. And Ontario’s political and community leaders are responding. Across the province, politicians are urging the government to come clean on the future of Carillion snow-plowing in Ontario. Many of them say those plowing contracts should be brought back under public...

People in Kenora packed into a We Own It town hall meeting on April 4—and hundreds more tuned in via social media—all eager to help ensure that privatization is a major issue in the upcoming provincial election. Kenora We Own It town hall”We’ve got 57,000 people signed up on this campaign—that’s a heck of a...