PSAC ONTARIO - REFLECTIONS OF 2012

Bill 115—Taking Away Workers Rights 

Although many PSAC members fall under federal legislation when it comes to their workplaces, our members in Ontario have been vocal in opposing the provincial Liberal government’s Bill 115.
Bill 115, deceitfully titled “Putting Students First Act”, takes away education workers and support staff’s right to strike, along with their ability to meaningfully bargain with their school boards employers.
McGuinty abruptly resigned on October 15th and prorogued the legislature; stopping debate and the finance committee hearings into the cancelled gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga.
If this prorogation had not happened, there was a Bill in the works that would have expanded Bill 115 to all of the half a million public sector workers in Ontario.
Legislation such as Bill 115 undermines our democratic rights to collective bargaining and sets a dangerous precedent of anti-worker laws in this province.

Protecting our Canadian Heritage

PSAC Ontario and UCTE launched a campaign over the summer to raise awareness about the negative effects of the $29.2 million in cuts to Parks Canada. A large portion of the funding cuts are to the historic canals in Ontario, which include the Rideau Canal and the Trent-Severn Waterway. The Rideau Canal for example will lose $2 million annually, despite being designated a National Historic Site of Canada and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
On October 18th, at the lock station of the Rideau Canal in Ottawa; Sharon DeSousa, REVP – Ontario, Christine Collins, UCTE National President, Megan Leslie, NDP MP Environment Critic and Anne Minh Thu Quach, NDP MP Deputy Environment Critic, held a press conference to denounce the cuts. Both MPs were presented with a petition to reverse the cuts to Parks Canada with nearly 8,000 signatures from local resi-dents and businesses.

PSAC Ontario Fall School

The 2012 Ontario Region Fall School successfully brought together more than 80 activists from across Ontario for an intensive, in-residence Union training. Courses included; Local Officers Training, Duty to Accommodate, Anti-Harassment and Workers Health & Safety.

Supporting our Communities

This year, both the London Area Council and the Kingston Area Council ran food drives, collecting food items from members to donate to local food banks.
This is some of the work our Area Councils and Human Rights Committees undertake to help our communities during these difficult times. With more and more people turning to food banks, every donation is important.

Local Impacts

Budget cuts at the Department of National Defence have led to sweeping job loses across Canada. At the Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Borden, 120 contract cleaners represented by PSAC lost their jobs in December. This represented 60% of the clean-ing staff on the Base and left the 80 remaining PSAC members to cover all the work.
PSAC has been vocal on how cuts to the public sector will also lead to job loses in the private sector. In this case, the Local, made up of mostly women, were told they would be out of a job right after the holiday season. UNDE and PSAC Ontario held a press conference on November 28th, to discuss the impacts of these job loses for the entire community.

Raise the Rates Campaign

As a form of coalition building and as a community unionism initiative, PSAC Ontario joined CUPE Ontario and the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) in a Raise the Rates Campaign. The purpose of the campaign is to raise the rates for social assistance in the province of Ontario. The Campaign highlights the negative impacts of austerity on poor and working people.
With poverty levels growing to unprecedented levels here in Ontario and our social systems being degraded, we all have a responsibility to ensure the most vulnerable in our society can live in dignity. As union members, we are proud in the achievements we’ve made in our workplaces; yet our members are also active in helping to improve the quality of life for all people in Ontario.

Labour Day

PSAC members participated in Labour Day activities across the province, including Scarborough’s first Labour Day parade. This year, PSAC Ontario Council decided on 3 slogans for PSAC Labour Day T-shirts. The three slogans were: "Unions: Prosperity for All, not Profits for Few," "Public Services are Your Services," and "Workers: the Real Job Creators".
These PSAC Labour Day T-shirts were distributed to members across the Region who took part in their local Labour Day events.