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Trooper and local band The Cooper Brothers will rock Ottawa on Saturday November 1st in a Rock for Public Services concert hosted by CUPE Ontario, CUPE 503 and CUPE 4000. Comedians Bowser and Blue will open the show which starts at 7:00 pm at Ottawa Civic Centre.
The concert will take place just as Ottawa City Hall is set enter into public consultations on a budget proposal that is expected to call for reduction of public service jobs across the board. CUPE 503, representing Ottawa municipal workers, is mounting an aggressive campaign to preserve public services throughout the budget discussions.
With the slogan Defending your public services. For a cleaner, greener, caring, safe Nation’s Capital!, the campaign will include bus transit and newspaper ads, postal drops in key wards and the rock concert among other activities.
CUPE 4000, which represents Ottawa hospital workers, is also helping host the concert. The local LHIN is potting to rationalize lab services at the Ottawa hospital and other locations through a public-private partnership (P3) with US-owned Gamma Dynacare. This will mean service reductions, loss of community control and job losses for CUPE workers.
The Ottawa rock event is the seventh concert that CUPE Ontario has sponsored this year as part of the union’s anti-privatization campaign. Over 20,000 have attended shows in Sturgeon Falls, Kenora, Thorold, Ajax, Kingston and Lindsay to hear bands including Trooper, April Wine and DAME, winners of 2008 Toronto Indie Music awards.
