Dear friends:
As you may know, the frontline staff of OPSEU are on strike.
On June 30, OPSEU successfully negotiated a tentative agreement with the 350-member Ontario Public Service Staff Union, known as OPSSU. That agreement was unanimously recommended by the bargaining teams for both the employer (OPSEU) and the union (OPSSU). Unfortunately, the agreement was then rejected by staff at their ratification meeting on July 16. Bargaining since then has failed to produce a new agreement.
It takes a lot of people to run a 130,000-member organization like OPSEU, and it is impossible to do so without skilled staff. OPSEU staff negotiate and enforce collective agreements; provide expert advice and support to members on benefits, pensions, equity, health and safety, and campaigns; organize new members; and support the union’s operations through payroll, accounting, information technology, data management, human resources, conference and travel, education, research, communications, printing, and building services. OPSEU staff work at 20 regional offices around Ontario and at two head office sites.
At this difficult time, maintaining the relationships between staff and members is of paramount importance. For this reason, OPSEU will not be commenting publicly on negotiations unless absolutely necessary. We will save the bargaining for the bargaining table.
The leadership of OPSEU is committed to negotiating a fair and reasonable collective agreement for our staff, and we will succeed. Please bear with us as we work towards that agreement.
In solidarity,
Warren (Smokey) Thomas, President
Eduardo (Eddy) Almeida, First Vice-President/Treasurer