OPSEU Local 449 Stands In Solidarity With OPSEU Local 5117

Renfrew – June 17th, 2021

As of June 12th, health care workers represented by OPSEU Local 5117 on strike at Black Creek Community Health Centre located in North York. They are negotiating for a long-term wage increase that has been long promised but never provided. These members deliver vital, front-line services to the surrounding communities, and it’s shameful that the employer fails to recognize the heroics of delivering these services during a global pandemic with a well-reasoned 1% increase in wages.

OPSEU Local 449 Vice President Liam Vanderbraak states that “their right to a fair and respectful negotiation was violated, and for that we at Local 449 will continue to publicly advocate the need for balanced and equitable bargaining. An employer who walks away from the table is an employer who doesn’t respect the value in their employees, and as such the right to strike is tenfold more impactful.”

OPSEU Local 449 President Samantha Kelly also says that this strike will become a familiar headline when the provincial government heads to the bargaining table in late 2021 to negotiate the impending collective agreement expiration. “The actions and demonstrations Local 5117 members are taking today are protecting the hard-fought freedoms that we as OPSEU have won in battles past.”

“For every day of strike action, brothers and sisters across the province are cheering louder and louder for you as your stand up to these disrespectful and disgraceful bully tactics.”

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About OPSEU Local 449
Local 449 proudly represents the 50+ full-time and part-time Ontario Public Service employees located in Renfrew, Ontario. Our members of this union local work with the Ministry of the Attorney General (MAG), Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (MCCSS), Ministry of Consumer and Government Services (MCGS) at ServiceOntario, Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP), Ministry of Health (MOH), Ministry of Transportation (MTO), and Ministry of the Solicitor General – Correctional Services (MSG-CS).

Media Contacts
Vice President Liam Vanderbraak, 1-866-283-0557 x.2, vicepresident@opseulocal449.ca