50 delegates will meet tomorrow at an airport hotel in Toronto to complete the elections of the Central/Unified and Corrections Bargaining Teams. The delegates were elected at the Regional Bargaining Conferences, June 7. There will be speeches by OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas and Central Enforcement and Renewal Committee Chair Roxanne Barnes prior to the elections and presentations by negotiations, research and campaigns staff.
The Central/Unified Team has 15 members and the Corrections bargaining team has seven members. Eight of the Central/Unified team have been elected: one member representing each of the seven OPSEU Regions, were elected at the Regional Bargaining Conferences along with their alternates. As well, one member was elected by and from the Central Enforcement and Renewal Committee. Following tomorrow’s election of the category and fixed term members and alternates, the 15-member Central/Unified team shall elect from among their members a Chair and Vice-chair.
The Corrections Bargaining Team, one member representing each of the seven OPSEU regions, and their alternates, were also elected at the Regional Bargaining Conferences. Tomorrow, the Corrections team shall elect one member to the Central/Unified team. That member’s first alternate, elected regionally, shall become a member of the Corrections Bargaining Team.
The OPSEU contract for the Ontario Public Service expires Dec. 31, 2014. Negotiations are scheduled to begin in early November. OPSEU represents 34,500 members in the OPS. They are direct employees of the provincial government. The top five jobs in the OPSEU bargaining unit by population are: office administration, (e.g. OHIP claims assessor, court clerk, and ServiceOntario customer service representative), correctional officer, systems officer (e.g. systems analyst, network support analyst), Ontario Disability Support Plan caseworker, and probation officer.