HAMILTON, Ont. — Members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees who belong to the OMERS pension plan will vote tonight on joining province-wide strike action to protest legislation introduced by the McGuinty government.
“The McGuinty Liberals are getting ready to ram through approval of a bill that discriminates against women, lower-paid workers and pensioners,” said CUPE Ontario President Sid Ryan. “The requirement in the bill for a two-thirds majority vote will shackle forever CUPE’s efforts to improve benefits for these workers while a minority of higher-paid workers — mostly men — are given gold-plated pensions.”
With decision-making stacked in favour of employers, even though half of the plan’s assets come right off the wages of CUPE members and other employees, plan surpluses will not be used to increase benefits for pensioners, he said.
CUPE represents more than 45% of active members of OMERS. In the Hamilton area, they will meet tonight at the Hamilton Convention Centre from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
CUPE Ontario Secretary-Treasurer Brian O’Keefe will be available on site to speak to media at 5:30 p.m., prior to the meeting.
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For more information, contact:
Brian O’Keefe, Secretary-Treasurer, CUPE Ontario, 416-579-7414 (cell)
Pat Daley, CUPE Communications, 416-299-9739 ext 264; 416-616-6142 (cell)