OPSEU
members
vote to strike
at Community
Living
Newmarket/
Aurora
NEWMARKET, ONT. — Em-
ployees at Community Liv-
ing Newmarket/Aurora gave
the Ontario Public Service
Employees Union (OPSEU) a 94
per cent strike mandate.
The union members, who
work in group homes in support
of residents with developmental
disabilities, voted in favour of
strike action on March 3.
"Our members are speaking
with one loud voice," said Kelly
Holmes, chair of the bargaining
team for OPSEU Local 386.
"We are frustrated with the
employer dragging out the ne-
gotiations."
OPSEU Local 386 was cer-
tified in January 2014 but has
yet to reach its first collective
agreement.
Bargaining between the par-
ties began in November 2014
and conciliation began in Sep-
tember 2015. Two days of con-
ciliation are scheduled for next
week.
According to the union, em-
ployees are also waiting for the
funding increase rolled out for
front-line community living
agencies in February 2015.
"They do important work
and group homes couldn't func-
tion without them," said Warren
(Smokey) Thomas, president of
OPSEU.
"They have OPSEU's full
backing in their ongoing efforts
to achieve a fair first contract."
Canada loses
2,300 jobs
in February
OTTAWA — The Canadian
economy unexpectedly shed
jobs last month, pushing the
unemployment rate to a nearly
three-year high due mainly to a
loss of full-time positions, data
from Statistics Canada showed
on Friday.
The labour market lost 2,300
positions in February, falling
short of analysts' expectations
for a gain of 9,000 jobs.
That put the unemployment
rate at 7.3 per cent, its highest
since March 2013. Economists
in a Reuters poll had expected it
to hold at 7.2 per cent.
The loss of 51,800 full-time
positions more than offset a
gain of 49,500 part-time jobs.
The participation rate held
steady at 65.9 per cent.
The health-care and social
assistance field saw the biggest
losses with a decline of 19,600
jobs, followed by the educa-
tional services sector. The natu-
ral resources sector, which has
suffered because of cheaper oil
prices, continued to weaken
with a loss 8,900 jobs.
The construction industry
added 34,000 new positions,
although that still left the sec-
tor little changed from a year
earlier.
The province of Alberta,
which has been hurt by layoffs
in the energy sector, added a
meagre 1,400 jobs, but an in-
crease in people looking for
work sent the unemployment
rate up to 7.9 per cent there, its
highest since August 1995.
LABOUR BRIEFS
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Taxi drivers in Jakarta, Indonesia, take part in a protest against what they say is unfair competition from
ridesharing services.
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