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OXFORD COUNTY, Ont. Oxford County Public Works employees voted unanimously last night in favour of strike action to fight concession demands from County management. The 36 workers, represented by Local 1589 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), provide road maintenance and landfill operations in the county.

This is an issue of fairness and respect, said Mike Dunn, CUPE national representative. Our members work hard for the community and dumping on workers with contract takeaways and rollbacks is not acceptable. We are committed to fighting concessions.

County management has been demanding a long list of concessions in negotiations, including cuts to health benefits and job security. Conciliation talks have been scheduled for February 28th to try and avert a strike. The workers last contract expired on December 31, 2004.

Management is also seeking concessions from county health board workers in their contract talks. Oxford County Board of Health workers, represented by CUPE 1146, also voted unanimously last week to fight concession demands.

Unanimous votes by public works and board of health workers demonstrate the commitment of our members to defend our collective agreements, said Dunn. Management should take upcoming negotiations more seriously, otherwise they will be facing a strike that will unfortunately hurt our community and residents of the County.

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For further information, please contact:
Mike Dunn, CUPE National Representative - 519-743-7781
James Chai, CUPE Communications - 416-292-3999