We deserve better

A reasonable offer to Table 1 members would have settled these negotiations months ago, but the government refused to make it. Instead, we received an unacceptable pay offer and little else. We deserve better.

We are now beginning strike action to get a fair deal from the government. As in the past, it will not be easy. The government will employ its usual tactics to undermine our efforts and to portray us to the public as unworthy of improvements to our contract. We have heard it all before, but we have always countered it forcefully. We will do the same this time.

Our work is important to this country and we do it well. We do it well despite the cuts to the public service and the increase in workloads. We do it well despite the hollow words of respect and appreciation offered to us by the government. We do it well despite the disgraceful rhetoric of this government being “an employer of choice”. We do it well, and this is why we deserve better at the bargaining table.

The strike will be won local by local, in the smallest locations of the country and the largest. Many CEIU members are veterans at organizing strike action and those who are not will benefit from the depth of experience in our organization. There is great strength in this union and I am confident that together we will make this government hear, loud and clear, what we want – a fair collective agreement.

See you on the line.

In solidarity,

Jeannette Meunier-McKay
National President, CEIU