OPSEU will seek reinstatement for fired ambulance officers

The Ontario government has rescinded a regulation under the Ambulance Act which made it illegal for Ambulance Officers to have six driving demerit points.

Six Ambulance Officers lost their jobs under the regulation when they accumulated six points. OPSEU has been fighting the rule which applied only to ambulance staff, and not to police or firefighters.

However, the government is not reinstating the Ambulance Officers who lost their jobs because of the regulation.

"They have recognized the rule is unjust and change it. Now they have to deal with the people who were hurt by the unjust rule," said President Leah Casselman.

Ambulance Officers were prepared to fight to change the rule. They’ll keep up the fight until their dismissed colleagues are reinstated, said Jamie Ramage of Local 256, co-chair of the union’s ambulance division.

"We’ve won half a victory, but we’re not giving up until we’ve won it all," said Ramage.

The government has said that the fired officers can reapply for their jobs, but hiring them is up to the individual ambulance service.

"That just won’t do," said Casselman. "It was the government’s action in passing the regulation that took these members’ jobs away. It is the government’s responsibility to make sure that they get their jobs back, with compensation for the time they were out of work," she said.

"We won’t let this drop without a fight."

Two locals on strike

About 200 staff who work for the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario walked off the job Nov. 1 in support of first contract demands.

Members of Local 565, they enforce Ontario’s laws on gambling and licenced premises. They want enforceable wage rates in their contract, and they want their benefits spelled out in the contract.

The employer refuses to write benefits into the contract and refuses to consider a wage grid.

OPSEU has responded to the last offer from the employer, in an exchange which occurred four days before the walkout. The union is still waiting for a response to its position.

Members of Local 641, on strike against the Intergarin Communtaire Cochrane Community Living in Cochrane since Sept.27 are still on the picket lines.

You can send support for the AGCO strikers to the Queen’s Park office, and to the Cochrane strikers to the Timmins office.

OPSEU welcomes 2,100 new members

Members of the Association of Allied Health Professionals: Ontario have voted to join OPSEU. They came into the OPSEU fold effective Nov. 1.

AAHP:O represented medical technologists, respiratory technologists, X-ray technologists, speech therapists and other licenced health care staff.

Similar occupations form OPSEU’s medical division, and OPSEU is the largest union in Ontario representing these health care workers.

President Leah Casselman welcomed Allied members. "We will work together to protect and defend the dedicated health care professionals who are threatened by the Ontario government’s plan to privatize the health care system and close hospitals."