Windsor’s mayor is taking a page out of the Chrysler CEO’s playbook by unfairly targeting and scapegoating municipal workers and making them pay for Windsor’s economic woes, says Sid Ryan, the president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario.
Sid Ryan, who will join striking Windsor city employees for a rally at City Hall (350 City Hall Square West) on Monday, April 20 at 5:00 p.m., is critical that Eddie Francis is taking advantage of the economic recession to attack the modest salaries of municipal workers, a move Ryan says is short-sighted, and one that will ultimately hurt Windsor’s economic recovery.
“It’s an unjustified attack on city workers and the local economy,” says Ryan. “When what he should be doing is making sure that as many people as possible in Windsor have stable jobs and incomes, Francis is cutting wages and putting workers out on strike. So there will be fewer workers in Windsor collecting a pay cheque and less money being spent on groceries and car payments. That’s not an economic vision that will help families here or the ailing local economy.”
The mayor’s fixation for commercial and industrial tax cuts means less revenue is coming into the municipality at a time when residents reeling from the economic upheaval will need city services most.
Ryan is calling on Windsor city councillors to support the economic stability of municipal employees, their families, and the local economy by distancing themselves from Francis’ ill-advised strategy to make city workers pay for lower city revenues and economic hard times through wage and benefit cuts. “That’s not only unfair to city workers and their families, it’s exactly what you don’t do in a recession. According to economists, decent paying public sector jobs are needed in communities like Windsor to fuel the local economy. What Francis is doing is bad economic policy,” says Ryan.
For further information, contact:
Humberto daSilva CUPE Communications 416 839-9550 hdasilva@cupe.ca