'Our rights are part of our identity as Ontarians'

NEWS RELEASE

CANADIAN UNION OF
PUBLIC EMPLOYEES

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Local CUPE members converge on Liberal convention, urge candidates to respect rights

SAULT STE. MARIE - Members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) from Sault Ste Marie and Thessalon will get an early start on Saturday.

At 3:15 a.m., they will board a bus bound for Toronto, where they will join workers from across the province at the Liberal party convention for a march and rally where they will urge all candidates to chart a new course that respects collective bargaining rights and impartial arbitration for essential workers.

"When people are getting on a bus at 3 a.m. on a Saturday morning to go and march - in January - you know that they're deeply concerned," says Carrie Withers, president of CUPE Local 4685 in Sault Ste. Marie. "Our rights are part of our identity as Ontarians, and we can't let any government take them away."

"These are democratic rights. You can't just take them away with the stroke of a pen," says CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn. "Any leader who tries to strip these rights from us will learn that we will fight them with everything we have."

Hahn added this attack affects more than just unionized workers.

"Collective bargaining works. And it benefits everyone," he says.

Withers and Hahn will be joined at the rally by CUPE Ontario Secretary-Treasurer Candace Rennick and busloads of members from more than 30 communities across the province, including Windsor, Ottawa, and North Bay for the 1 p.m. rally in Toronto.

CUPE Ontario represents 230,000 workers across Ontario who work in five main sectors: school boards, municipalities, social services, health care and universities.

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