CUPE National President, Mark Hancock, and National Secretary-Treasurer, Candace Rennick, joined workers on picket lines today to demand that their employers stop the delay tactics and get back to the bargaining table.
 
This morning, the CUPE National leaders stood alongside members of the Ontario Compensation Employees Union (OCEU/CUPE 1750) at the WSIB headquarters in Toronto as their strike stretches into its second month. For weeks, frontline staff have been demanding fair wages, safe and respectful workplaces, and an end to outsourcing that sends Ontario jobs out of province. Hancock and Rennick showed their solidarity with WSIB workers and spoke to the growing crisis facing Ontario’s workers’ compensation system.
 
This afternoon, the leaders headed to North York to support striking workers at the Villa Columbo Supportive Housing Unit (CUPE 5525). Management at Villa Colombo, a subsidiary of Villa Charities, walked away from the bargaining table one month ago, after tabling a proposal full of concessions and a payment package well below the poverty line. Villa Colombo has since hired scabs and is refusing to return to good-faith negotiations with the union. It has now been almost one month since the strike began.