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DEEP RIVER The union representing municipal workers in the Town of Deep River will be filing charges of Bad Faith Bargaining against their employer, after management tried to reopen a contract that was ratified in May.

We are disappointed and upset they choose to ignore our negotiated settlement, says Bill Sikorsky, of Local 740 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). We negotiated this contract in the spring and it is supposed to cover us until 2006. Now the Town wants to start negotiating again and waste tons of money on legal wranglings, while disregarding our contract. It has to stop.

Local 740 and the Town of Deep River ratified a new collective agreement in May 2003, which was to cover the workers until February 2006. The union recently received a letter dated October 14th, from Larry Simons, Clerk Administrator for the Town of Deep River, requesting more dates for negotiations. Local 740 will file an Unfair Labour Practice complaint with the Ontario Labour Relations Board on this matter.

Its time for residents of Deep River to ask municipal politicians why they are wasting taxpayer dollars by trying to open up a collective agreement the Council ratified on May 7th, says Doreen Beath, CUPE National Representative. They are wasting taxpayers dollars which could affect municipal services. Thats not a good thing to do as we head into a municipal election.

Were urging residents to contact local candidates and tell them to respect our contract, says Sikorsky. The Council already ratified this contract in May. Its undemocratic for them to want to set it aside now, and it will only cause unnecessary problems for residents.