/R E P E A T -- 30 funeral home workers locked out for second week by US owned Dignity Memorial Canada (Service Corporation International)/

RICHMOND HILL, ON, July 5, 2013 /CNW/ - Today marks the beginning of the second week of a lock-out of Toronto funeral home employees by Dignity Memorial, part of the giant Texas based multi-national Service Corporation International (SCI) which has facilities in 43 states and eight Canadian provinces.

Bargaining broke down on Wednesday, June 26 and Dignity Memorial locked-out their employees at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday morning. Issues still to be resolved include wages, working conditions such as compulsory work on statutory holidays, and sick days.

"Our members work with families living through tragedy every day and try to provide some comfort during the most difficult of times," said Doug Power, a union representative with SEIU Healthcare which represents the locked-out workers. "Our workers deserve a living wage that allows them to raise their families. That shouldn't be a problem as SCI made nearly half a billion dollars in 2012 so paying their workers a decent wage should not be an issue."

"This is a deeply personal struggle for the workers," Power notes. "They really care about the families they service."

"Tom Ryan, SCI's President and CEO likes to attribute the success of SCI to 'each and every one of our 21,000 associates'", concluded Power. "Well it's time SCI lived up to their rhetoric, got back to the bargaining table and negotiated a fair deal for our workers - their workers."

SOURCE: SEIU Healthcare

For more information or to arrange an interview contact:

Kyle Ferguson 
Media Relations Specialist, SEIU Healthcare
Tel: [phone] x 3123   Cell: 416-809-0699   
Email: [email protected]