Tag: Solidarity
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Ford in bed with business, won’t save good GM jobs
Toronto – OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas says Doug Ford has indeed made Ontario “open for business” … to trample all over workers and kill good jobs. Shrugging his shoulders at GM’s callous plan to shutter a state-of-the-art Oshawa plant next year is yet another sign that Ford has no clue how to manage the…
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OPSEU stands with CUPW, condemns back-to-work legislation
OPSEU stands in strong solidarity with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and its 50,000 striking members, and condemns the Trudeau government’s attempt to illegally end the strike with back-to-work legislation. “It’s not complicated: Canadians have a constitutional right to strike,” said OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas. “The federal Liberals are stripping those rights and…
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OPSEU stands with Tree of Life Synagogue
Greetings, Like you, I’ve been struggling to come to terms over the last few days with the horrible murders at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. How can we make sense of such terrible violence? How can we work to ensure that such ugly hatred isn’t repeated? I was talking the other night about…
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OPSEU reducing mail to support striking postal workers
In solidarity with the striking CUPW workers at Canada Post, OPSEU offices will not be mailing out anything that is not urgent. For OPSEU members seeking advances or to submit expenses, we encourage you to use the Member Portal to submit claims and sign up for direct deposit. CUPW workers have been staging 24-hour rotating strikes in various cities throughout…
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Letter from President Thomas to IATSE Local 58 president re stagehand lockout
Warren (Smokey) Thomas, President of OPSEU, sent the following open letter to Justin Antheunis, President of Local 58, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, to express the union’s solidarity with the local’s stagehands. The Board of Governors of Exhibition Place, which reports to Toronto City Council, locked out hundreds of stagehands on July 22 to…
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Unions are good for the country: New York Times
Unions in the United States are under attack by the right wing – an ongoing assault most recently advanced by a Supreme Court ruling instituting the so-called “right to work” across American public-sector unions. In light of this aggression, the New York Times has published a brief but insightful article explaining how unions improve people’s…
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Ford government has strange way of showing compassion to social assistance recipients: Thomas
Toronto – Ontario Public Service Employees Union President Warren (Smokey) Thomas is denouncing the Ford government for slashing Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) rates. “The government’s latest assault on the so-called “little guy” won’t fool anybody, least of all the families who rely on Ontario Works and ODSP to get by. They…
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Call for Solidarity Tour to Costa Rica and Panama
The OPSEU Social Justice Fund plans to participate in the Horizons of Friendship Solidarity Tour to Costa Rica and Panama, February 4-17, 2019. The Social Justice Fund Board invites OPSEU members to submit a Statement of Interest to be considered for the tour. Participants will visit social justice projects in the field, directly interact with…
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Solidarity Funds Call for Board Member
In 2004, the OPSEU Executive Board approved the setting up of two distinct solidarity funds – The Live and Let Live Fund and The Social Justice Fund. There is currently a vacancy on the Board of the Funds and all interested OPSEU members are invited to submit a Statement of Interest. The current Board will…
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OPSEU Silent Auction is not silent about HIV/AIDS
Message from the Board of the OPSEU Live and Let Live Fund We send a huge thank you to all who supported the Live and Let Live Silent Auction at the 2018 Convention. The Silent Auction raised over $17,000, the most successful auction ever. We also owe a debt of gratitude to Marisa Stagliano and…
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Congratulations to OPSEU’s Mayworks award winners
OPSEU activists will receive multiple awards at the 2018 Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts gala celebration on April 7, 2018. Warren (Smokey) Thomas, OPSEU President, extends his congratulations to all of the OPSEU awards winners for their creativity and use of the arts to promote labour rights. “College faculty made such great…
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$25k OPSEU donation helps feed nearly 500,000 Ontarians
OPSEU and its members have a long history of supporting food banks across Ontario, and last year was no different. Along with many local donations and volunteer efforts, the OPSEU board donated $25,000 to the Ontario Association of Food Banks (OAFB). “Your generous support had a lasting impact on the 499,000 Ontarians in need that…
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National Day of Action to support Tim Hortons Workers
OPSEU is strongly encouraging all members to show solidarity with Tim Hortons workers by participating in the Ontario Federation of Labour’s (OFL) national day of action on Friday, January 19. Please help send a strong message to Tim Hortons and CEO Daniel Schwartz that corporations making billions in profits annually must not punish their most…
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Region 5 Labour Day meet-up and parade
Labour Day 2017 is a great opportunity to join hundreds of OPSEU activists, the “We Own It” campaign, the Fight for $15 & Fairness/Make it Fair Campaign, and more than 20,000 of our labour and community allies at the biggest annual labour event in Canada! Date: Monday, September 4 Time: 8:00 a.m. Place: University Avenue, east…
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Labour Day events across Ontario
Monday, September 4 is Labour Day, and local labour councils and unions across Canada will be holding events on all three days over the long weekend. Click here for a complete listing of all Ontario events, compiled by the Canadian Labour Congress.
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June 12: Stand up for childhood
OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas released the statement below today to mark the International Labour Organization’s World Day Against Child Labour. June 12 marks World Day Against Child Labour, and on this day, all of us should consider how much we continue to benefit from child labour. Maybe it seems like child labour is far…
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Activists from Standing Rock and Unist’ot’en to speak about water protection
TORONTO – The Lakota woman who has helped make international headlines by blocking the construction of an oil pipeline in Standing Rock, North Dakota, will talk about her environmental activism during an event in Toronto on the evening of Friday, May 5. Date: Friday, May 5, 2017 Time: 6 to 9 p.m. Place: OPSEU Union…
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OPSEU shares international solidarity with Guatemalan midwives
The OPSEU Social Justice Fund Board met this month with Indigenous midwives from Guatemala who are visiting Canada for the very first time. These midwives are members of a delegation that includes two doctors, Dr. Jorge Ariel Diaz Ordonez, director of the Maternal Child Health Centre, and Dr. Iris Gamez, Project Coordinator. Their visit to…
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Thomas congratulates Molson Coors workers on new contract
OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas released the following statement after news that members of Canadian Union of Brewery and General Workers (CUBGW) Local 325 had ratified a new collective agreement on February 26. Workers at the company’s Etobicoke plant went on strike January 12. Congratulations to the workers of CUBGW Local 325 on ratifying a…
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‘Molson American’ has no place in Canada, union leader says
Toronto – Striking workers at the Molson Coors plant in Etobicoke are not just fighting a stingy employer, they’re resisting Americanization and globalization, the President of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union says. “These big American bosses, they’re driven by corporate greed, that’s all. They want workers to do more with less. But that’s not…