Dear Fellow Local 79 Member:
The recent Ontario Election, which resulted in a minority government, may offer new avenues of opportunity for municipalities. Because of the minority situation, all three political parties have a significant voice in the legislature. All politicians at Queen’s Park should now be urged to advocate for additional money for municipalities. The downloading of costs from the Provincial government has created severe financial problems across Ontario for all cities, including Toronto, and must be mitigated.
On September 26th, Local 79 members joined thousands of others at a rally outside the City Council Meeting saying no to Rob Ford’s agenda of service cuts. The following day, City Council finally voted on a much scaled-down package of proposed cuts. After examining the Core Service Review, and upon comparison with other similar cities, it turns out that approximately 90% of City-run services are either mandatory (they are legally required to provide them) or “traditional” for municipal governments to provide. The real fights, however, are still ahead. The formal budget process has not actually begun – that comes in November – and many of the recommended cuts that the Executive Committee pushed forward to budget meetings will be before the Councillors at that time. As in previous years, Local 79 will be actively involved in the operating budget process. We will be making deputations in order to protect the much valued programmes and services that our members provide. Child care and long term care are still under threat of privatization and contracting out, which Local 79 will continue to vigorously oppose.
Local 79 made a deputation at the October meeting of the Toronto Police Services Board arguing strongly against contracting out the cleaning services that our members provide at the police stations. The option of contracting out cleaning services at Toronto Police Services has been explored on at least three occasions (1994, 1996 and 2003) and rejected every time by City Council! Local 79 members are trusted by the police officers in the police stations to ensure efficient, safe and secure conditions. Every cleaner must go through a comprehensive security screening before they are hired, followed by in-depth training on the job for health and safety, biohazards and infectious disease control.
All Local 79 members working in police facilities should have received information regarding seniority lists. If you have not received anything, please check the Local 79 Bulletin Board, or ask a Local 79 Steward. If you still have additional questions, comments or concerns pertaining to the seniority lists, please contact the Local 79 Duty Officer at 416 977 1629 extension 244 or 557.
In a significant decision reversal, Mayor Rob Ford voted at a recent City Council meeting to hire the two provincially funded public health nurses that he rejected in June. At that time, Local 79 wrote to the Mayor expressing our disbelief that the Executive Committee rejected funding from the Province of Ontario which would have allowed the City of Toronto to hire two additional nurses in Public Health. We were not alone in questioning the Committee’s decision. Ontario’s Minister of Health, as well as several City Councillors, were very public about their disagreement with the City’s Executive Committee on this issue. Toronto was the only one of the province’s 36 health units to turn down the nurses. Mayor Ford’s reconsideration of his previous decision came two weeks after he voted to accept a different provincial offer of three public health nurses to help fight the war against bedbugs.
October 18th is Persons Day, an occasion to celebrate victories and reaffirm a commitment to achieving full equality for all women in Canada. On this day in 1929, women were finally declared “persons” under Canadian law. The historic legal victory was due to the persistence of five Alberta women — Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Irene Parlby, Louise McKinney and Henrietta Muir Edwards. It took until 1960 for all Canadian women to have the right to vote.
October 26, 2011 is Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day. This year will mark the 11th anniversary of this awareness day which recognizes the education, skills, commitment and dedication of Early Childhood Educators and Child Care Staff. Local 79 would like to acknowledge and applaud the commitment and contributions that all our members, who are child care workers and early childhood educators, make to the children in Toronto, their families and their communities. Congratulations – you do such an important job, so well!
Local 79’s 2nd Annual Golf Tournament, held on September 12th, was a huge success! The weather cooperated and by all accounts participants enjoyed a great day of golf and fun. It was great to see so many Local 79 members displaying their golfing talents!
In Solidarity,
Ann Dembinski
President