Labour Minister's office faces picket over Legal Aid lawyers' rights in wake of new report

TORONTO, July 28, 2016 /CNW/ - Legal Aid lawyers and the union of their choice, The Society of Energy Professionals, will picket Labour Minister Kevin Flynn's Oakville constituency office today from 4:30-6:00PM as part of the ongoing campaign for Legal Aid lawyers' collective bargaining rights.

The picket comes in the wake of yesterday's Changing Workplaces Review interim report on labour and employment law reform. The report, which was commissioned by Ontario's Ministry of Labour, cites the campaign for Legal Aid lawyers' bargaining rights.

The Society of Energy Professionals is working for labour and employment law reform through the Ontario Federation of Labour-led Make It Fair campaign.

For more than three years, Legal Aid lawyers have demanded Premier Kathleen Wynne stop denying them their Charter-protected rights to collective bargaining and to choose the bargaining representatives of their choice. The Wynne government is set to spend an estimated $1 million in legal fees to block Legal Aid Ontario lawyers from securing their democratic rights.

Crown attorneys and lawyers employed in the Ministry of the Attorney General have already been granted collective bargaining rights. But unlike those majority-male groups, two-thirds of Legal Aid lawyers are women and a high percentage of Legal Aid lawyers identify as people of colour.

Legal Aid lawyers represent the poorest and most vulnerable Ontario residents on family, criminal and immigration matters.

When:	Thursday July 28, 2016, 4:30-6:00PM
Who:	Legal Aid lawyers and The Society of Energy Professionals
What:	Picket of Labour Minister Kevin Flynn's constituency office
Where:	2318 Lakeshore Road West, Oakville, between Third Line and Bronte Road

SOURCE The Society of Energy Professionals

Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler, [phone], [email protected]