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It's been over one hundred days now. The labour dispute at Hydro One provoked by CEO Tom Parkinson's demand for massive concessions is a jarring flashback to the days of Mike Harris. As the dispute escalates with the firing of employees, it threatens to undermine the respect your government has been seeking in Ontario's public sector and across the labour movement. The treatment of highly trained professionals in this key economic sector is truly stunning. The newly hired engineers who have now been terminated are some of the brightest graduates in our province, carrying huge debt loads from university. What signal is being sent to other young men and women about the value of their education, and the esteem in which they will be held in coming years? But more troubling is the question of what happens after the strike. Does anyone expect these thousand employees to go back with anything other than resentment and contempt for how they have been treated? What possible initiative can this publicly owned entity invent to restore any degree of employee morale and co-operation? You know that your government bears the full responsibility for both the current situation and the aftermath of this ill-conceived mess. Hydro One is owned by you, and its leadership is appointed by you. Unfortunately, there is no other conclusion to draw but that this treatment of Hydro One employees has your personal and collective support. There are more than enough challenges facing this sector, as we are all so painfully aware. Given the tremendous concern by the people of Ontario over the instability of energy supply and security, one would assume that you would want this dispute settled. I would respectfully suggest that the time for you to act on this matter is long overdue. LOCKOUT AT WOODBINE RACETRACK Employees of the Woodbine Entertainment Group, the country’s largest racetrack and gaming centre, are on the streets. Some are locked out, others went on strike in a united effort to overcome hardball management tactics. "The members told us they would not accept any contract that kept them splintered in separate bargaining units, and did not meet other key union demands," says SEIU Local 528 Chief Negotiator Tom Galivan. Both SEIU and HERE Local 75 are asking for modest and long-overdue improvements. For the past ten years, the majority of collective agreements have been imposed through government-supervised final offer votes. But this time around, Security Officers stood up and said "No". They were locked out on January 17th. A week later, HERE Local 75 Food and Beverage workers also voted down a government-supervised final offer vote and were immediately locked out. SEIU and HERE members are appealing to you to bolster our picket lines. At the Mohawk Raceway, SEIU and HERE picket lines are set up daily from 7:30 to 10 PM. The busiest and most important time for your show of solidarity on the picket lines would be any Friday, Saturday or Sunday. On January 25th, following a rally addressed by leaders of the CLC, OFL, Steelworkers and Labour Council, the cleaning and maintenance workers joined them on the picket line. To download the flyer click here Go here to find out how you can help from home. LOCKED OUT SHELTER COUNSELLORS FEAR FOR SAFETY OF DISPLACED WOMEN AND CHILDREN January 25, 2004 Aurora- In a move that shows a reckless disregard for the safety of residents and their children, the management and board of directors of Yellow Brick House, yesterday locked out shelter counsellors, and moved women fleeing abuse to a facility offering little security and protection. "We are very concerned about the safety of the residents and their children. Throughout this impasse with management, we have been very clear we did not want to displace the residents or disrupt their counselling. These are vulnerable women and closing the shelter is unconscionable. This is why we have not gone on strike, although we have been in a legal strike position for over a month. "It's clear that the Yellow Brick House management doesn't share our concerns. Or they would not have chosen to lock us out, close the shelter and put women and children at-risk," says Colleen Johnson, a shelter counsellor and a member of Local 3636 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). At issue is a workplace re-organization plan that the Yellow Brick House management claims can only be implemented by terminating nine shelter councillors who collectively have more than 75 years work experience at the Aurora shelter. All those targeted for firing are strong union activists or members of the current bargaining committee. The proposed re-organization also sets out new job qualifications that include graduate degrees and multi-lingual skills. The union has argued that rather than firing shelter counsellors outright, management must consider the merits of their work experience, educational equivalencies, and in some cases the ability to speak a second language, as the basis for "grandparenting" the current employees. The union has also asked that the counsellors be given adequate time to upgrade their degrees in order to meet the new job qualifications. However, management has refused to consider the union's fair proposals. Over a four-month period, management has only agreed to negotiate on three occasions. They have cancelled two days of bargaining and forced employees to vote on a final offer (a little-used provision in the labour code) and have now proceeded with a lock out. "Without any warning to loyal, experienced workers, our employer has decided that new skills, new degrees and a second language are needed to do our jobs. We aren't given any time to get the degrees or learn a new language. We just get a pink slip. It's just not right," says Johnson. Colleen Johnson Counsellor, Yellow Brick House (519) 942-7209 Stella Yeadon CUPE Communications (416) 578-8774To download the release click here, to find out what you can do to help click here |