CANADIAN LABOUR-WINDSOR:

SUPPORT WINDSOR CITY WORKERS:

Outside city workers in the city of Windsor, Ontario have been on strike since Wednesday, as per the following item from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

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CUPE 82 on strike in Windsor:
Outside city workers in Windsor Ontario are on strike today after mediated talks failed to reach a settlement.

CUPE 82's 385 members have been asking for a modest wage increase and refusing to accept a two-tier benefit scheme for newly hired employees.

"We have cooperated with the City for over fifteen years on cost saving initiatives and we have once again proposed initiatives to assist with reducing operating costs, some with potentially large savings, but they simply refused to look at them, said CUPE 82 President James Wood.

Meanwhile, CUPE 543's 1400 inside workers are also in a legal strike position, but they have a mediation session scheduled for Friday, April 17.

The locals have been running an online action, asking supporters to email Windsor City Council.

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CUPE, meanwhile, is asking supporters to email the Windsor city council, telling them to get back to the bargaining table. Here's the story from CUPE Locals 82 and 543.

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Support Windsor city workers:
Windsor's Mayor and City Council are looking to use the recession as cover to demand rollbacks that will stay with city workers long after the economy has recovered.

The city is looking to institute a two-tier system for some benefits so that new-hires are worse off than their colleagues.

They want to stop paying for benefits for retirees.

And they want a wage freeze.

None of these rollbacks fights the recession. None of them put any more garbage trucks on the street.

None of them speak to the union's proposals for reducing operating costs.

Please take a second to send a message to Windsor City Council and tell them to get back to the table to negotiate a settlement that gives Windsorites their services back .

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THE LETTER:

Please go to THIS LINK to send the following letter to Windsor City Council.

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I support high quality public services that are delivered locally by public sector workers who work hard, take pride in their work and who are part of our community.

I think Windsor City Council is using the current economic climate as leverage to score a victory against its employees, the effects of which will be felt long after this recession is over.

This is the sort of unkind opportunism that can harm union-management relations for an awfully long time.

If saving money is so important to council why won't you consider the cost-saving proposals CUPE 82 has put forward?

Please reconsider the rollbacks you're asking for and negotiate a reasonable settlement.