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Port Hope The union representing 23 municipal workers in Port Hope will attempt to address Port Hope City Council this evening on the status of contract negotiations. CUPE Local 749 has filed a “bargaining in bad faith” complaint under the Ontario Labour Relations Act, alleging that the employer has not made reasonable efforts to reach an agreement through negotiations. The union will be in a legal strike/lockout position on February 6th.

“This employer has been steadfast in avoiding any real negotiations,” says Linda Newman, CUPE National Representative. “They have taken the most unusual step of appealing to the Labour Board to force a ’final offer vote’, without having genuinely tried to reach a deal with us in the conventional way.”

“Tonight we will ask Port Hope City Councillors, who are ultimately responsible as the employers here, to tell their negotiators to abandon the final vote and get back to the table with the union. We want to warn Council that if they try to ram through an agreement that has not been negotiated and supported by the union’s negotiating team, they will be further straining a tense labour relations atmosphere. And there is no good reason to do it we are confident that if they actually negotiate with us we can reach an agreement all parties can support,” says Newman.

Who:
CUPE Local 749
Where:
Port Hope City Council
Town Hall, 56 Queen Street, Port Hope
When:
Tuesday, February 4th, 2003, 7 p.m.
-30-

For further information:
Linda Newman, CUPE National Representative,
office: 905-433-4760, or cell: 905-706-9786
Andrea Addario, CUPE Communications,
office: 416-292-3999