OPSEU launches radio advertisement campaign to combat Wynne's war on public services

SUDBURY, ON, Jan. 23, 2015 /CNW/ - The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) has weighed-in on the Feb. 5 Sudbury by-election campaign by launching a radio advertising campaign against the Wynne government's efforts to privatize more public services in the province.

"In this by-election Sudbury finds itself at ground zero in Kathleen Wynne's war against quality public services," OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas told a news conference in Sudbury this morning. "OPSEU would not make this effort if we did not truly believe that public services in Sudbury and across Ontario are at risk of privatization like never before. But they are and the Wynne government's privatization scheme is real."

Thomas said OPSEU has purchased hundreds of radio "spots" at English- and French-language radio stations in Sudbury to hammer home the union's message that privatization of public services are costly and inefficient – points made by the Auditor General in her recent report. A second round of radio advertisements will be released in the days leading up to the Feb. 5 vote.

In North Bay earlier this week, the OPSEU president heard that as many as 200 IT jobs in the Ontario Public Service in that northern community could be lost and re-located off-shore.

"(Former Premiers) Mike Harris and Dalton McGuinty sparked the fire sale of public services under their watch," Thomas told the news conference. "Kathleen Wynne is simply pouring gasoline on it."

SOURCE Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU)

Warren (Smokey) Thomas, [phone]; Greg Hamara, OPSEU Communications, [phone]