Dear Sisters and Brothers:
OPSEU has supported the United Way Campaign for many years, in addition to the Ontario labour movement in general.
The labour movement and United Way share a common vision of building a society that provides a wide range of public services that are accessible, universal and of the highest quality.
When our members give to the United Way, they can be assured that their money is used by their community to support a number of social services that are essential to our quality of living, yet are not properly funded by the public purse.
OPSEU members staff some United Way agencies. They are the frontline workers providing these services.
OPSEU's involvement in the United Way campaign continues to be predicated on three conditions:
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The union, our members and their local get full public credit for their contributions.
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There must be no coercion of members, either to give or take part in raising contributions.
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OPSEU will not support any agency that supports workfare initiatives. Workfare denies people the very basic protections afforded to all other workers under the law. Workfare is an affront to everything that OPSEU stands for.
I encourage you to have an OPSEU presence in this campaign, both by your own initiatives and generosity as well as by encouraging donations from members of your local and asking them to become involved as volunteers.
In this way, your efforts will continue our ongoing commitment to our members, the people in our communities and our province.
In solidarity,
Warren (Smokey) Thomas
President