TO: AFFILIATES
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
The McGuinty government has embarked on a strategy which will destroy our public services. Experience in other countries shows that Premier McGuinty's plan to use public private partnerships for public services will be devastating. It can only lead to fewer services for our members; more services being paid for directly by our members; and control of services by profit-making companies.
It is about treating public services as a business where the public pays and profiteers profit.
It is urgent that the labour movement step up our efforts to explain the issue to the public and persuade the Liberals not to go this route.
We have witnessed in Britain how their move to public private partnerships has had a negative impact on education, health care, roads, postal service, even meat inspection (which spurred the development of mad cow disease). This has affected not only those unions directly involved, but the ability of other unions to negotiate benefits for their members.
We have to prevent this from happening in Ontario.
In order to get our message out to our members, we have organized regional workshops across the province. A list of workshop dates and locations and registration form are attached.
These workshops will be used to explain the issue; what's at stake and how we are pulling together to implement the action plan passed at the OFL Convention.
Therefore, it is imperative your staff reps, stewards, negotiating teams, health and safety committee members, women's committee members attend these workshops. These will be the first step in mobilizing our members to participate in a lobby and mass rally at Queen's Park in early June.
Together we can make this a major issue with the public and our members.
Together we can protect the infrastructure of our province from health care to education to water to sewers to roads and arenas.
Together we can save public services from being handed over by the province to the private sector.
In solidarity,
WAYNE SAMUELSON
President
Encl:
Registration Form
Locations
Letter in PDF Format
