power Workers'
union ratifi es
contract with Opg
tOrOntO — The Power Workers'
Union (PWU) recently ratified a contract
with Ontario Power Generation (OPG).
The contract includes wage increases
of one per cent for each year of three-year
agreement. Additionally, changes were
made to both benefits and pension contri-
butions.
The new agreement will see employee
pension contributions increasing by 2.75
per cent to create a more equitable shar-
ing of pension costs between the employer
and PWU staff, OPG said.
Conditions for an end to operations at
the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station
were also negotiated in the agreement.
These changes address several issues
raised by external reviewers and expert
panels, according to OPG president and
CEO Tom Mitchell.
The agreement was reached through the
bargaining process. The parties' previous
collective agreement expired on March 31.
teachers' union
speaks out against
back-to-work
legislation
tOrOntO — Striking secondary school
teachers in Ontario returned to work on
May 27 after the provincial government
imposed back-to-work legislation.
The Elementary Teachers' Federation
of Ontario (ETFO) called the legislation a
"blatant infringement of teachers' constitu-
tionally protected right to strike."
A branch of the Ontario Labour Re-
lations Board ruled the strikes by high
school teachers in the Sudbury-area Rain-
bow District, Peel Region and Durham Re-
gion put the school year in jeopardy after
more than 70,000 students were kept from
class for several weeks.
The ETFO compared the recent legisla-
tion to Bill 115, which allowed the prov-
ince to impose labour contracts on public
school teachers in 2012, limiting their abil-
ity to strike.
Bill 115 was repealed in January 2013.
"This is a legal strike about local is-
sues," said ETFO president Sam Ham-
mond. "The fact that the Protecting the
School Year Act makes strike action on
both central and local issues illegal for
these locals goes far beyond the pretext
of protecting the school year for students.
We went through this with Bill 115 with
the government legislating instead of ne-
gotiating."
While the back-to-work legislation does
not affect ETFO's current work-to-rule
strike action, the union said legislating
teachers back to work will only add to the
dysfunctional bargaining culture.
"Imposing back-to-work legislation is
not a move forward toward resolution —
only negotiation is," Hammond said.
lAboUr brieFs
2
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lAboUr lens
University workers and students took part in a demonstration at the Venezuela Central University
in Caracas. Employees are calling for wage increases and improvements to infrastructure.
