Category: Bargaining
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Student Activism, Labour and the Media
Finally, an editorial in a leading Ontario newspaper that promotes fairness for organized workers. Over the past couple of months, it’s been one offensive, union-bashing column or editorial after another. Perhaps I missed something while taking some time off with family earlier this summer. How did 800,000 hard-working unionists in this province suddenly become such…
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Political theatre at Queen’s Park
Dear sisters and brothers: A government budget is usually a political statement dressed up as a financial document. The March 25 Ontario budget was no exception. We already knew, or could guess, what was going to be in it. The Throne Speech and various media leaks drew a pretty good sketch. But one thing in…
Andy Pedersen
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Let’s talk solutions
You just have to look at this website to see that governments and employers aren’t responding to people’s concerns. Witness just some of our stories: More than 11,000 children and youth in Ontario with at least one diagnosable mental disorder find themselves on waitlists. Instead of providing needed funding, the provincial government has flat-lined core…
Andy Pedersen
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Hijacked and Out of Control
Hijacked. That’s a word to describe the morphing of the once proud Progressive Conservative Party (PC) of Ontario into the neo-liberal wing of the American Tea Party. So, how did it happen? Ontario’s true conservatives got lazy. They couldn’t handle that after more than a 40-year run as Ontario’s blue machine, their power was removed…
Andy Pedersen
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Dalton McGuinty’s vampire advisers
I went down to Queen’s Park on March 8 to listen to the Speech from the Throne. Before the Speech, there had been a couple of news stories leaked about what Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals might have in store for us. I wanted more details. I didn’t get them from the Speech, but here’s what we…
Andy Pedersen
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A vision of life in Drummondville
Welcome to Drummondville. We’re not in the city with the same name east of Montreal. We’re in a place in Ontario built on the musings of a $1500 a day consultant/banker. Based on life in Ontario’s Drummondville, his advice has proven to be as much of a help as it was in taking us to…
Andy Pedersen
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What Goes Around Comes Around
The wheels on the bus go round and round. The more things change the more they stay the same. The question remains, why? Why does a manufactured crisis always result in the same response from “retail” politicians? Why does it always result in the loss of democratic rights and freedoms for the middle class and…
Andy Pedersen
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Time for some sunshine!
Sunshine. It is essential to life. It warms and nurtures! It brightens our days. At least it does when it is not placed ahead of the word "list." The Harris Tories, by passing the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act, created "the sunshine list" for one reason — to drive a wedge between the public and…
Andy Pedersen
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Standing together in 2012
Let’s take a few minutes to reflect on our good fortune. At the same time we must be mindful of the problems and threats ahead. OPSEU members have worked hard to provide the very best in services to thousands of Ontarians. From post-secondary education to government services; from nursing and liquor stores to community care;…
Andy Pedersen
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Personal Prosperity and Social Justice
Personal prosperity and social justice – why are these ideals often polarized? Can they coexist? Why do politicians oppose an overlap when trade unions have united the ideals for decades? Fact (and the key to Ontario’s future): a strong and growing middle class comprised of working people with financial resources to buy – stimulate growth and pay taxes. …
Andy Pedersen
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Let’s talk about good taxes
Now that our elected MPPs are back at Queen’s Park, it’s pretty clear what the main topic of debate will be for the fall session. It’ll be taxes: how they are spent, and how they are collected. On the one hand, there’ll be a lot of talk about the waste of taxpayers’ hard-earned pay on…
Andy Pedersen
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Health care is sustainable, more tax cuts aren’t
How sustainable is health care? Opponents of Medicare regularly question the public sector’s ability to pay the bills as health care creeps up as a share of provincial budgets. New data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) suggests health care costs may be more sustainable than we think. Affordability is best determined by…
Andy Pedersen
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Dalton McGuinty’s election test
Dear sisters and brothers: I looked at my calendar today and it says that Ontario voters go to the polls in a provincial election on Oct. 6, 2011. That’s actually pretty soon. In two months we’ll being saying the election is “next year.” What will that election be about? I don’t have a crystal ball.…
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A Time to Reflect and Connect
Greetings Friends The holiday season means a lot of things to a lot of different people. Regardless of your beliefs or your traditions, this is the time of year when most of us look forward to spending time with family and friends. We share stories, have a laugh or two, and hopefully take some time…
Andy Pedersen
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Weak regulations won’t make a strong Ontario
When former Premier Mike Harris closed public water-testing labs, he told private labs they didn’t have to report ominous test results to municipalities. The Walkerton water disaster resulted. Seven people died, and 2,300 became seriously ill. When a propane explosion in Toronto last fall killed two people and forced 12,000 from their homes, critics blamed…
Andy Pedersen
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There’s a price attached to building a better Ontario
Dear friends, Since his untimely death, many have written about the legacy left to Canadians by Jack Layton. His final letter summarized his enduring gift to Canada, a country he cherished and loved. In it he proposed that we “build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly”. The trade union…
Andy Pedersen
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Solidarity Works
The tentative agreement OPSEU has reached with the LCBO is a reminder of what solidarity can produce. It is the stuff that puts our union front and centre in the Canadian labour movement. Solidarity is about standing shoulder to shoulder as our LBED membership has just done, achieving a landmark tentative deal with a tough,…
Andy Pedersen
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People for Corporate Tax Cuts
Dear friends: Over the past five months or so, I’ve been talking to OPSEU members about corporations – what they are, and what they stand for. One question I’ve been asking is, “Who has more power, corporations or governments?” Nobody ever says governments. Not these days. At one time, democratic governments were the driving force…
Andy Pedersen
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Let Freedom Reign!
Mitt Romney was absolutely right. The US presidential election was all about freedom. Freedom to marry the one you love. Freedom to redirect precious resources from jailing pot smokers to public services and infrastructure. Freedom to build coalitions of those weary of being bullied by a right wing gone mad. Freedom to speak out against…
Andy Pedersen
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Have your say on Ontario’s budget
Dear friends: If the last few years are any guide, the next Ontario budget will arrive on March 24 or so. While spring seems far away in the middle of winter, it’s not. Budget planning is happening right now. This month, the finance committee at Queen’s Park will start holding hearings to let citizens have…