NEWS ADVISORY - Avenue II workers rally as lockout looms
THUNDER BAY, ON, Sept. 25, 2017 /CNW/ - Workers at Avenue II Community Program Services will hold an information picket Tuesday to call on their employer to return to mediation before a lockout deadline of 12:01 a.m. September 30.
Date: Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Time: Noon – 1 p.m.
Location: Avenue II office, 122 Cumberland Street South, Thunder Bay
The rally comes just days after members of the bargaining unit narrowly rejected a tentative agreement signed last week. The sticking point in the agreement was fairness for workers in the lowest-paid "casual" job classification.
"Casual staff are part of the team at Avenue II and they deserve recognition for that," said Silvana Cacciatore, chair of the bargaining team for Local 738 of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU). "A $100 lump sum payment in the first year of the contract and a 10-cent-an-hour raise in the second year doesn't keep up with the cost of living, let alone raise it.
"In Friday's ratification vote, our members took a stand for casuals."
Casuals at Avenue II are paid $16.60 an hour.
Cacciatore said the issue could be ironed out "in minutes" with a return to mediation this week and thereby avoid the high cost a lockout for clients, staff, and management alike. Mediation had been scheduled for September 26 following the rejection vote but management withdrew its agreement to participate.
SOURCE Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU)
Silvana Cacciatore, 807-621-9347
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