Repeal of Bill 115 hypocritical, says CUPE

 

The repeal of Bill 115 is an attempt by Ontario Liberals to show they have changed, but CUPE says the attempt to fool people won't succeed. CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn called the announcement hypocritical.

 

"Repealing Bill 115 now, just before the Liberal leadership convention, and after it has been used to attach more than 100,000 workers' collective bargaining rights, is nothing more than misdirection. They have another bill ready to go that will do the same to hundreds of thousands of other public sector workers."

 

The Protecting Public Services Act was proposed by the Liberal government prior to prorogation. It applies the same bargaining constraints across the provincial public sector as Bill 115, gives the government additional powers to impose new conditions on bargaining and will do away with impartial arbitration as a form of redress for those workers who do not have a right to strike.

 

CUPE is launching a province-wide TV and online advertising campaign to ramp up its fight against legislation that attacks its members' rights. The ad describes gains first made through collective bargaining that then spread to other workplaces such as parental leave, workplace health and safety standards and pensions.

 

"We created this commercial to help the general public better understand why these democratic rights are important, for union and non-union workers alike," said Hahn, "and why we all have a stake in protecting them."