Tag: OPSEU in the News

• Attacks on Niagara correctional officers on the rise

  The St. Catherine’s Standard reports: “They are kicked, punched, bitten and struck. Taken away by ambulance. “Corrections officers at Niagara Detention Centre in Thorold have dealt with a skyrocketing number of assaults by inmates in what the union says is the result of a broken system across the province that includes understaffing, inadequate infrastructure and…

  Andy Pedersen

  April 17, 2019

  Bargaining, Campaigns, Media

  Crisis in Corrections, OPSEU in the News

• OPSEU members in Mississauga protest education cuts

  The news website Mississauga.com reports that OPSEU members were a large part of the protest against the Ford government’s cuts to education at the office of Mississauga-Erin Mills MPP Sheref Sabawy on April 12. “We will not give up on fighting against the cuts to education, the support system students need to be successful and especially…

  April 15, 2019

  Bargaining, Campaigns, Media

  Kids Matter, OPSEU in the News

• Thomas urges AMHS-KFLA to pause layoff plans

  TV stations and newspapers in Eastern Ontario are covering the terrible plan by the supervisor of Addictions and Mental Health Services – Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington (AMHS-KFLA) to cut services and lay off dozens of staff members with years of experience simply because they don’t have university degrees. “The workers she wants to lay off…

  April 12, 2019

  Campaigns, Media

  OPSEU in the News

• Clarington personal and home support workers join OPSEU

  Clarington This Week is reporting on the SE Health personal and home support workers who voted recently to join OPSEU. “On behalf of OPSEU’s entire executive board, I’d like to extend a hearty welcome to our newest members,” OPSEU president Warren (Smokey) Thomas said. “Most of these workers are on the road every day, travelling…

  April 12, 2019

  Campaigns, Media

  Certifications, OPSEU in the News

• “Life is going to be tougher” under Ford’s 2019 budget

  OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas told reporters at Queen’s Park that “life is going to be tougher” for most people under the Ford government’s 2019 budget. “The losers are all the people Ford claims to represent and the winners are the one per cent and the wealthy through tax cuts,” said Thomas. “I would have…

  April 12, 2019

  Campaigns, Media

  OPSEU in the News

• Thomas: Ford ‘spoiling for a war with labour’

  OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas tells The Globe and Mail that the Ford government’s public musings about capping wage increases is a declaration of war. “I think he’s [the Premier] spoiling for a war with labour,” says Thomas in The Globe. “We’re not looking to go to war, but I kind of think we are…

  April 5, 2019

  Bargaining, Campaigns, Media

  OPSEU in the News, Provincial

• Jails dangerous, neglected – correctional officers

  An aging facility, inadequate mental health training are serious problems in North Bay – union. OPSEU president Warren ‘Smokey’ Thomas says he wants to tour some troubled jails with Premier Doug Ford. Thomas says the system needs an injection of about $1 billion in new or retrofitted jails, better training and more correctional officers. Read…

  April 3, 2019

  Bargaining, Campaigns, Media

  Crisis in Corrections, OPSEU in the News

• Death of inmate Sunday at EMDC is 14th since 2009

  After more than a year without a fatality at Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre (EMDC), a male inmate died about 4 p.m. Sunday, London police said Monday. “When the Tories were in opposition, they were on their feet in the legislature calling out the Liberals for shirking their responsibility to keep correctional officers and inmates and our…

  April 2, 2019

  Bargaining, Campaigns, Media

  Crisis in Corrections, OPSEU in the News

• Jails dangerous, neglected, correctional officers say

  The province’s jail system is badly neglected, under resourced and dangerous for inmates and staff, its correctional officers say. OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas said the system needs an injection of about $1 billion in new or retrofitted jails, better training and more correctional officers. Click here to read the full article on the Toronto…

  April 1, 2019

  Bargaining, Campaigns, Media

  Crisis in Corrections, OPSEU in the News

• OPSEU RVP demands commitment that Lake Erie conservation officers won’t be moved

  OPSEU Region 1 Regional Vice President Len Elliott was on CBC Radio on March 27 raising the alarm about a plan by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) to move fisheries-focused conservation officers patrolling Lake Erie 50 kilometres inland. “When the word gets out that there’s going to be a void of enforcement…

  March 28, 2019

  Bargaining, Campaigns, Media

  OPSEU in the News

• OPSEU, OFL to pressure Conservative backbenchers

  OPSEU has joined with Ontario’s other democratic unions in a bid to stop the provincial government’s cuts and privatizations by putting pressure on backbench Conservative MPPs, according to CBC Toronto. OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas tells CBC that while Premier Doug Ford “doesn’t seem to care” about protests, “his backbenchers will care.” “In my union,…

  March 26, 2019

  Campaigns, Media

  Fighting Privatization, OPSEU in the News, Solidarity, We Own It

• OPSEU: follow Manitoba’s lead on alcohol theft

  CBC Toronto is reporting on OPSEU’s demand that Ontario look to Manitoba in a bid to stop the costly and dangerous increase in alcohol thefts from LCBO stores. “I would hope that perhaps Ontario might follow Manitoba’s lead and really crank up the efforts to stop thefts,” OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas told CBC Toronto. The…

  March 25, 2019

  Bargaining, Campaigns, Media

  OPSEU in the News

• Behind bars: Has the prison system failed inmates?

  CTV News London filed a video report on the intolerable situation at Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre. Says OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas: “The Tories in opposition and during the election campaign made a lot of promises to our corrections folks. Not only have they not kept those promises, but they’re not addressing the crisis in corrections…

  March 25, 2019

  Bargaining, Campaigns, Media

  Crisis in Corrections, OPSEU in the News

• Waypoint staff, OPSEU officials picket in Penetanguishene

  On the same day as the Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care celebrates with its annual Shine the Light Gala, Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) officials and Waypoint employees were out picketing to “shine a light on staffing issues.” “We’ll keep holding Waypoint management’s feet to the fire until they start respecting our members,”…

  March 18, 2019

  Bargaining, Campaigns, Media

  Fighting Privatization, OPSEU in the News

• OPSEU head Warren ‘Smokey’ Thomas says province needs to take lead on addressing homelessness

  The head of a major Ontario union was in London on Wednesday, calling for provincial action on homelessness. President of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), Warren “Smokey” Thomas discussed homelessness, as well as mental health and addictions with the chair of the London Homeless Coalition, Abe Oudshoorn. Read the full article on the…

  March 7, 2019

  Campaigns, Events, Media

  OPSEU in the News

• OPSEU president challenges Ford to tour homeless shelters

  The head of Ontario’s largest public sector union is calling on Ontario Premier Doug Ford to tour area homeless shelters to get a first hand look at the growing need for increased provincial funding. Warren “Smokey” Thomas, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, extended the challenge while in London Wednesday to discuss the…

  March 7, 2019

  Campaigns, Events, Media

  OPSEU in the News

• OPSEU calls on Ford government to hire more correctional officers to prevent attacks

  OPSEU President Warren (Smokey)Thomas is quoted in a Toronto Sun article about correctional officers represented by OPSEU who were attacked at the Toronto South Detention Centre last Saturday night. “It was a sneak attack,” he said. “Many were hurt and it could have been worse.” Ontario’s correctional officers face serious risks every day – many…

  March 6, 2019

  Bargaining, Campaigns, Media

  Crisis in Corrections, OPSEU in the News

• Toronto Corrections officers refuse work after assault

  About 200 OPSEU Corrections members who work at the Toronto South Detention Centre refused non essential work on Monday, March 4, after a group of workers was attacked over the weekend, sending two to hospital. “The real crux of the problem is the government either can’t, or won’t, hire enough people to staff the place…

  March 5, 2019

  Bargaining, Campaigns, Media

  Crisis in Corrections, OPSEU in the News

• President Thomas talks social mapping on RadioLabour podcast

  RadioLabour’s Canada Report for February 15 to 21, 2019, reports on how the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) discovered the full diversity of its members by implementing a ‘social mapping’ project. An interview with OPSEU President Smokey Thomas. Click here to listen to the podcast on Rabble.ca. The interview begins at 1.07 and ends at 6.05.

  February 15, 2019

  Equity and Human Rights, Media

  OPSEU in the News, Social Mapping Project

• Calls mount for MacLeod’s resignation

  The Toronto Star and The Ottawa Citizen are reporting on the growing number of calls for the resignation of Minister of Children, Community and Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod in the wake of allegations her office threatened autism service providers if they didn’t publicly endorse her scheme to cap and privatize autism services. “I can’t tell you how…

  February 14, 2019

  Campaigns, Media

  OPSEU in the News