TORONTO, ON – The midnight deadline has come and gone but workers for the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board remain at work and the bargaining committee from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 1750 / the Ontario Compensation Employees Union (OCEU) is still at the table.
“We’re close to an agreement that will meet our member’s needs and will start to address some of the challenges that years of underinvestment have created at the WSIB,” said Harry Goslin, president of CUPE 1750/OCEU. Members entered a legal strike position as of 12:01 a.m. on May 31. That timeline has not changed, but the bargaining team is committed to seeing negotiations through. “We’re hopeful that our employer will see reason and invest in these critical workers, giving us what we need to do our jobs supporting Ontarians.”
If a deal is reached tomorrow, it will be in time for the fortieth anniversary of Injured Workers Day. “I will be commemorating this important day at a rally in downtown Toronto, and I want to stand up there and tell all the workers in Ontario that if they are injured, WSIB workers will have the time and resources we need to provide the level of care Ontarians deserve,” said Goslin.
The two sides have plans to bargain into the night and reconvene tomorrow.
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For more information, contact:
Jesse Mintz, CUPE Communications Representative
[email protected] | 416-704-9642
lf/cope491
