New deal provides decent wages, better working conditions: OPSEU
Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) members at the Owen Sound Family Health Organization in Owen Sound, Ont., ratified a collective agreement on Sept. 5.
The doctors who own the clinic are scheduled to vote on the agreement on Sept. 6, said the union.
“These workers, who are almost all women, have won an astounding victory against overwhelming odds,” said Warren (Smokey) Thomas, OPSEU president. “Our members faced threats and violence. But with the community's support, not to mention the support of OPSEU members and of other unions from across the province, their solidarity and strength grew with each passing day.”
The OPSEU Local 276 members went on strike on May 22 because the doctors who own the clinic were offering low wage increases after four years of frozen wages. The doctors also refused to address precarious and toxic working conditions and were demanding that the members accept claw-backs to their retirement contributions, said the union.
But in the new four-year agreement, the doctors addressed many of those concerns, providing substantial wage increases, no pension claw-backs, and significantly improved job security, said OPSEU.
The workers could be back on the job as early as Sept. 10, said the union.
