A message to all OPSEU members in the OPS from Roxanne Barnes, OPSEU co-chair, Central Employee Relations Committee
Dear friends:
As you may know, OPSEU members in the Correctional Bargaining Unit will be in a legal strike or lockout position as of 12:01 a.m. this Sunday, January 10. While the OPSEU bargaining team will meet with the employer again on Friday, January 8, the possibility of a work stoppage is very real.
Our Corrections members may be in for the fight of their lives. If you work in the Unified Bargaining Unit, there is something you can do to help.
The employer has been preparing for a possible work stoppage for many months, even going so far as to build new accommodations to allow managers to live inside correctional facilities for the duration of a strike or lockout. The employer has also been training replacement workers – better known as scabs – to perform our members’ work while those members are on the picket line. Some of those scabs will be managers from ministries not involved in correctional services.
At this critical time, we must not do anything that makes it easier for non-Corrections managers to do our members’ work. That’s why I’m asking all OPSEU members in the OPS to refuse to take Acting management positions until the current round of negotiations is over. This employer needs to know that when any OPSEU members take a stand, we all stand with them.
As a final note, if our Corrections members do end up on the picket line, please give them your full support in any way you can. As the saying goes, “the longer the line, shorter the strike.”
Thank you for your attention to this very important matter, and thank you for your cooperation.
In solidarity,
Roxanne Barnes
OPSEU co-chair, Central Employee Relations Committee, Ontario Public Service
Related: Crisis In Corrections Index Page
Authorized for distribution by Warren (Smokey) Thomas, President, Ontario Public Service Employees Union