(TORONTO) -- – “The Hamilton-Niagara Region has been living through extremely hard times and staggering job losses for years before the global recession hit the Ontario economy,” said Wayne Samuelson, President of the Ontario Federation of Labour. “The crisis that had been confined to Ontario’s manufacturing and forestry sectors over the past few years has now spread across the entire economy into every sector.”

With the loss of thousands of manufacturing jobs the Hamilton-Niagara region has seen a dramatic shift in the economic outlook for workers in the region from good manufacturing jobs to lower paying and often part-time or temporary work.

The Drive To Work Caravan set out on its province-wide tour to find out how the recession is really affecting working people. “It seems like the people and communities who have suffered the most during this recession have not had their voices heard,” Samuelson said. “The thousands of people who have been put out of work have seen every corner of their lives affected.”

Since the Drive To Work Caravan launch on June 8th the 3,000 km tour has talked to thousands of Ontarians and listened to what they had to say on the need to preserve and create good jobs and maintain strong public services for healthy communities. “We have gathered your messages, letters, videos and stories over these last three weeks and the Drive To Work Caravan will bring your messages to the Premier.

“The voices of the thousands of people that have been organizing and participating in the Caravan deserve to be heard by our government.

“It’s time the real stories behind the statistics are heard – not just the numbers,” said OFL President Samuelson.

HAMILTON, JUNE 24 events:

10:00 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
Stoney Creek Industrial Area

12 noon – 2:30 p.m.
Steelworkers Hall media event/Speaker’s Corner
1031 Barton Street East
Hamilton, Ontario

3:00 p.m.
Burlington Strip
Burlington Street
Hamilton, Ontario

4:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Rally/Events/BBQ
Confederation Park Campground
680 Van Wagners Beach Road
Hamilton, Ontario



Follow the progress of the DRIVE TO WORK CARAVAN on the DRV2WRK website:

http://www.drivetowork.ca/2009/06/09/economic-crisis-lost-jobs-lost-earnings-in-hamilton-niagara/

RSS feeds http://feeds2.feedburner.com/Drv2wrk
twitter posts http://twitter.com/drv2wrk
Blog http://www.drivetowork.ca/blog/
Facebook community http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=84266611429 and
YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/DRV2WRK

For More Information:

Toll-free: 1-800-668-9138

Janice Gairey
OFL Staff, p: 416.347.9732 (mobile)

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