Strike at WSIB Stretches as Employer Dawdles

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As the strike at the WSIB approaches its second week, the WSIB management is dragging its heels on issuing a pass. The OCEU/CUPE 1750 bargaining team issued a complete pass back to the employer on June 1, but have yet to receive a fulsome response. “It’s like they aren’t taking the strike seriously,” said Harry Goslin, president of OCEU/CUPE 1750. “Our members are out on the picket lines because they are overworked and feel disrespected by the employer, and these delay tactics are just a manifestation of that disrespect.”

“The employer made the union wait four days for a pass last week,” added Nicole Francis, OCEU/CUPE 1750’s chief steward. “Their lack of meaningful engagement in this process is deeply frustrating.”

The union is hoping to get a meaningful solution to the workload problem that is causing elevated rates of burnout and mental health leaves among OCEU/CUPE 1750 members, as well as a deal that will allow the members to catch up to the spending power they had before Bill 124 froze their wages.

“We have been told the Treasury Board is telling the employer not to offer us a fair wage deal,” said Goslin. “Seeing as the WSIB isn’t taxpayer-funded, we’re not sure why the Treasury Board is involved at all.”

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