Membership and structure
The union is structured into local occupational groups, units or locals. Most members of OPSEU work for the Ontario Public Service, municipal governments and services, and the public college system. Additionally, some members work for private companies or organizations that are contracted to provide a public service such as hospitals and medical laboratories. The list of bargaining units includes Colleges of Applied Arts & Technology - Academic (CAAT-A) with about 12,000 members, just under 10% of OPSEU's total membership, Colleges of Applied Arts & Technology - Support (CAAT-S), Hospital Professionals Division Central Provisions (HPD), Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), Ontario Public Service (OPS). Other members include ambulance, developmental services, boards of education, children's aid societies, community agencies, long-term care, universities, hospital professionals, hospital support, municipalities, child treatment centres, municipal property assessment, mental health, Canadian Blood Services and Diagnostics. "OPSEU also represents members in many boards, Crown agencies, and tribunals, such as the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal, the Ontario Pension Board, the Ontario New Democratic Party Caucus, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario." In June, 2016, part-time support staff at all Ontario colleges held a vote on whether to join OPSEU. The College Employer Council blocked the counting of the ballots for more than a year, eventually losing. When the ballots were counted in January, 2018, 84% were in favour, leading to approximately 20,000 part-time support staff joining the union. OPSEU called this "the largest union organizing drive in Canadian history." In October, 2017, part-time college faculty held a vote to join the union, but the results are not known because the College Employer Council is attempting to block the counting of the ballots.Strike history
Ontario Public Service strikes
The First Strike: 1996
In 1993, Ontario's first NDP government altered the legislation governing Ontario Public Service employees to allow them to strike. In 1996, Ontario Public Service employees struck legally (Correctional Officers struck illegally in 1979) for the first time in their history. The strike was deeply political; OPSEU rallied against the Mike Harris government's proposed job cuts. The tension between the Government and OPSEU culminated on March 18, 1996 in a confrontation between the OPP and OPSEU strikers at Queen's Park in2002
The second strike between OPSEU and the provincial government lasted 54 days (March 13 to May 5) in 2002. Again, tensions between managers and the union were strong. Although there was no bloody confrontation between the union and the government during this strike, there was a strong division between union members and management.College strikes, CAAT-A
1984
College faculty were on strike from Oct. 16 until November 9, when they were legislated back to work.1989
8,800 faculty members at Ontario's 22 community colleges went on strike on October 19, 1989. The strike ended on November 14 when OPSEU and the Ontario Council of Regents agreed to binding arbitration after back-to-work legislation was threatened. At the time, the average earnings of a teacher was about $47,000, and salaries ranged from $22,800 to $52,250.2006
On March 7, 2006, roughly 9,100 faculty at Ontario's 24 colleges went on strike. Faculty returned to work on March 27 after 18 days on strike. At the time, full-time faculty had "a starting salary of about $32,000, an average pay of about $75,000 and a 16-year progression to reach top wage levels in their collective agreement, according to the union. The colleges offered a package that would have increased salaries by 12.6 per cent by the end of four years, taking the maximum pay to about $94,000. The union had proposed 12 per cent over three years."2017
On October 16, 2017, roughly 12,000 full-time faculty, partial load faculty, counsellors and librarians at the province's 24 Colleges went out on strike. The OPSEU collective bargaining team for the teachers was led by J.P. Hornick, Coordinator of the School of Labour at George Brown College. Bill 178Controversies
In May 2021, allegations of systemic racism and harassment were made against OPSEU and were documented widely in Canadian media, alleging that leadership from the Executive Board, through to then-President Warren (Smokey) Thomas were creating and supporting environments which were toxic to Black members. Specifically, previous leaders in Algonquin College's OPSEU Local 415 harassed, surveilled and excluded the new Local president, who was a Black woman. Despite investigations substantiating those events, OPSEU was sluggish to enact remedies, in effect emboldening the perpetrators. The events received political attention from New Democrat MPP Joel Harden and Laura Mae Lindo, MPP chair of the Ontario NDP Black Caucus, who wrote to Thomas regarding the issue. In April 2021, Thomas' leadership style began being questioned anReferences
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