THUNDER BAY -- With 13 days left until their contract expires, the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union is continuing to keep the pressure on the province.
On Wednesday, local OPSEU members rallied outside of MPP Bill Mauro’s office despite the Minster of Natural Resources being out of town.
The focus of the rally was the $8 billion the auditor general says the province spent on private partnerships to build infrastructure.
“We just really want to drive home the fact there is $8 billion in funds that taxpayers are on the hook for and I think they need to know where that money is going,” said Mary Cory, executive board member for OPSEU.
The $8 billion represents 100 Ornge scandals, which cost the province $80 million, and the protesters brought a box of symbolic oranges with them Wednesday afternoon.
Cory said they keep holding rallies to make the public aware of what they do and the services they provide.
OPSEU members include correctional officers, Service Ontario employees and 911 dispatchers. They also work in all areas of government from the Ministry of Transportation to the Ministry of Natural Resources.
And with less than two weeks of negotiations left, the members are getting frustrated, said OPSEU Local 736 president Sandra Snider.
“They see all these scandals and right now the government is asking them to fund them by taking money out of their day-to-day pay cheques to go home and have less money for their families because they don’t know to spend and manage their own money,” she said.
