Local OPSEU workers on strike

More than 100 members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union set up a picket line this morning at the Soo's Roberta Bondar Building, as a strike by began by provincial public service workers.

With local mobilizer Beth Anich (shown) leading Marine-style chants on a bullhorn, the strikers marched around the entire block surrounding the Bay Street building. Other pickets were at the Northern Treatment Centre and the Soo Jail, Anich told SooToday.com.

Local strategy

The strike affects about 800 Sault Ste. Marie OPSEU members, employed at places including the Court House, the Sault Jail, Community and Social Services, Northern Treatment Centre and the Ministry of the Environment.

Presidents of OPSEU's eight Soo locals will meet in a strategy session this afternoon to determine future picket locations.

About 150 Soo members of the union are considered essential workers and are expected to remain on the job.

Picket struck by vehicle

Anich told SooToday News that there was one incident this morning on the Bondar building picket line.

At approximately 7:45 a.m., a vehicle struck a picket at the entrance to the Bondar parking lot.

The picket was not injured but the incident was reported to police, Anich said.

The driver of the vehicle was identified as an OPSEU member who opted to remain on the job, she said. Across Ontario, OPSEU has 45,000 members.

Issues

The union says that the government is demanding it give up its right to use surpluses in the $10-billion OPSEU Pension Trust to fund pension improvements.

More than $10 million in benefit cuts are also on the table, OPSEU says.

The government's latest offer, tabled over the weekend, offered significant changes from its earlier position, said David Tsubouchi, chair of Management Board of Cabinet.

The offer included an across-the-board wage increase of 1.95 per cent in each of three years, as well as performance incentives to reward employee productivity, Tsubouchi said.

The government said it also offered:

- an immediate wage increase of eight percent for ambulance/communications dispatchers

- a 10-percent increase for nurses

- an eight-percent raise for government scientists

Said OPSEU president Leah Casselman: "The key features of the government's central offer are unchanged from the one that 88 per cent of our members rejected at the end of February." To receive free, real-time updates of SooToday.com's exclusive coverage of local news, just send an Email with "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject line to [email protected].