Wage Freeze

ONTARIO COUNCIL OF HOSPITAL UNIONS/CUPE!  JULY 22, 2010

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SpecialConference

There will be aone dayconferenceAugust 10 at10:00 a.m. at theIntercontinentalHotel, 220 Bloor St. West,Toronto,to discuss anaction plan todeal with theproposed wagefreezeconsultations.Please attend!

Wage Freeze?Province calls unions to talks

Ontario Finance MinisterDwight Duncan met with theleaders of the largest public sectoremployers and unions July 20 toask that they suspend bargaining and arbitration and enter intoconsultations with the province.

 The consultations begin August 9. It is expected thatCUPE and OCHU will beconsulted with from August 30 toSeptember 13, along with otherhealthcare unions.

Mr. Duncan told the crowdthat the province would respectsigned collective agreements.

But he also said that foragreements that are open now andfor agreements that come open,the province expects that there will be no net increase incompensation for a 2 year period.

If the consultations withunions and employers do notresult in an agreement to freeze wages for a 2 year period, the government has hinted that they  will introduce legislation to makethat happen.This appears similarto the Social Contract thathappened under the NDP government in the 1990’s.

HOW COULD I BE AFFECTED IF MY EMPLOYER PARTICIPATES IN CENTRAL?If your employer participates in central

bargaining, the government has said that it willrespect signed collective agreements and our centralagreement is four years long, expiring in September2013.

 There are wage adjustments of 2% eachSeptember 29, of the contract, with the lastadjustment coming in 2012.

We believe that it will be the employer’s positionthat in 2013 and 2014 your compensation would befrozen. The union’s position is that compensationshould not be. For local unions pursuing wageincreases in local bargaining for particularclassifications, the employers will take the positionthat the local issues board of arbitration should notaward these increases-the union disagrees.

ONTARIO COUNCIL OF HOSPITAL UNIONS/CUPE!  JULY 22, 2010

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HOW COULD I BE AFFECTED IF MY EMPLOYER DOES NOT PARTICIPATE IN CENTRAL?

If your employer does not participate incentral bargaining, some employers have signed a “ me-too “ agreement- which means that they have agreed to accept identical terms to thosenegotiated in central bargaining.

If your employer does not have a “ me-too “agreement, it is especially important that theunion fights to defend your right to achieve thesame compensation increases and contract termsas those achieved by the majority of CUPE’shospital membership who are covered by thecentral bargaining process.

If you are in bargaining, but not atarbitration, we believe that it will be theemployer’s position that your compensationshould be frozen for 2010 and 2011.

If you are at arbitration the province has nottold us what they think the impact on thoseproceedings might be.

 The union’s position is that yourcompensation should not be frozen.

WHY IS THE PROVINCE DOING THIS?

 The Minister of Finance made a case thatOntario’s economy is suff ering and that theprovince’s deficit situation requires a wagefreeze- that everyone has to do their part to getthe deficit paid down.

 The union believes that the real reason for the wage restraint program is because the Liberalsbelieve that they can score points with voters by being tough with public sector workers.

 The recent municipal strikes in Toronto andWindsor, the bus strike in Ottawa and the YorkUniversity strike were all striking by their lackof public support.

 The Liberals see the Progressive Conservativesas their main competition in the 2011 provincialelection. They believe attacking public sector workers will pry some PC voters loose.

CAN ANYTHING BE DONE TO STOP THIS?

 Absolutely!

Hospital and long term care sta ff can be very proud of the changes we have been able to maketo previous government legislative attacks onour job security and collective agreements.

When the province replaced respectedindependent arbitrators with retired justices of the peace who went on to cut sick leave andother provisions for nursing home workers, ourmembers moved into strike position to protectour contracts from being gutted.

 The Mike Harris Conservative governmentabandoned its attempt to rig the arbitrationprocess.

When the province introduced Bill 8 ( TheFuture of Medicare Act  ) which gave theprovince the power to change contract terms, we again moved to strike position and theLiberal government changed the legislation.

Delegates from your local union to the SpecialConference, which the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions has called for August 10 in Toronto will debate an action plan to protectour members from this wage freeze policy.

We will need your help and support.

We will be asking you to protest.

We will be asking you to support your localunion by attending meetings.