CUPE Ontario and its members will take to the streets in Labour Day events across the province to highlight workers’ issues that are key to the coming provincial election on October 10.
“Labour Day is a time to celebrate, but it’s also a time to highlight continuing struggles of working people, their families and communities in the face of poor government policies,” says Fred Hahn, Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario. “This election is key as successive Liberal and Conservative governments have continued their attack on public services, good paying jobs, and on cash-strapped municipalities that are struggling to provide the services that make communities strong.”
Hahn said that a number of issues will be the focus of CUPE Ontario’s provincial election campaign including:
- the faulty school funding formula
- underfunding of social services and municipalities
- underfunding of universities and soaring tuition fees
- the privatizing of health care
“We want a provincial government that will ensure schools, social services, hospitals, universities and municipal services are adequately funded in order to properly meet the needs of Ontarians,” said Hahn. “And we want a government that will address Ontario’s growing poverty, stop loss of jobs, reverse increasing inequity, defend public services and aggressively act now on climate change.”
Many of CUPE Ontario’s 220,000 members will participate in Labour Day events in cities including: Kenora, Thunder Bay, North Bay, Peterborough, Kingston, Lindsay, Durham/Oshawa, Toronto, Hamilton, Kitchener/Cambridge, London and Windsor.
For further information, contact:
Valerie Dugale CUPE Communications 647-225-3685
Fred Hahn CUPE Ontario Secretary-Treasurer 416-540-3979