CUPE plans massive rally October 5th to support Bonfield municipal workers

CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn reconfirmed Monday that the union stands firmly behind the striking CUPE 4616 Bonfield municipal workers during a solidarity picket and BBQ Monday afternoon.

Hahn, who met with Northern Ontario labour leaders in North Bay earlier in the day to discuss different ways to support Bonfield municipal workers, says they are prepared to be there as long as it takes holding the line with the 16 members until a fair settlement is reached, in fact CUPE is sending in reinforcements and will hold a massive rally October 5th.

“I was proud to sit at the Ontario Federation of Labour table with every union leader in the province and every labour leader in the province agreed that they must put members on buses to come here and have a mass rally on October the 5th,” Hahn tells the group.

“Our goal is to get 5,000 people here on October the 5th.”

“That’s another message to send a message to this mayor -- look enough with your cheeky ass signs on the door! Enough with thinking you can grade the roads all by your bloody self,” he says emphatically.

“Please go back to the bargaining table, bargain a fair agreement with these people. You must understand that until you do that we will be here, we will not move from here, we will support these workers until there is a fair agreement in place … So just do it today.”

The municipal workers, who have been out on strike August 1st, say they were forced to strike after Mayor Randal McLaren tried to force the workers to accept major concessions by imposing his own terms and conditions.

Hahn says CUPE has not received a response to its last contract proposal aimed at ending the strike, and is urging the Mayor and Councillors to resume negotiations and reach a fair contract settlement so municipal workers in Bonfield can get back to doing what they do best – providing quality public services for Bonfield residents.

Strike captain Gail Ashby thanked everyone for their support especially the residents who continue to back them in the effort.