The 27 unionized administrative and by law enforcement employees for the City of Owen Sound have been called to a strike vote Thursday.
“This is a defensive measure,” said Mike Walters, a representative with CUPE 1189. “We are hoping to avoid strike action, but the members are prepared to defend their collective agreement from the attacks we are facing.”
The union says the city is trying to impose severe cuts to their collective agreement, and reduce the number of members in the union.
Walters says they hope to avoid strike action, but adds members are prepared to defend against attacks to their collective agreement.
“We are extremely disappointed with what’s been presented so far,” says Walters, “I’ve negotiated contracts for over 30 years and the attacks we are facing are some of the worst I’ve seen. This is why we are taking defensive measures. What the City of Owen Sound is proposing shows a profound level of disrespect to these hard-working civil servants.”
He says the city pushed for large concessions from the current agreement when the two sides met last week.
The union has requested the two parties meet with a provincially-appointed conciliator in future talks.
The two sides met last week with the city pushing for large concessions from the current collective agreement.