Job Action Pending for Oxford Public Health Workers

Monday, 24 October 2016 09:43

Local public health workers will be in a legal strike position at midnight on October 28th if a deal is not reached before then.

Public Health Officials in Oxford County will be in a legal strike position on Friday at 12:01 am if a deal is not reached with the County.

Health Inspector and President of the local CUPE 1146 union and Denis LeChasseur tells Heart FM the biggest stumbling block to getting a deal done right now.

"The main thing is they are trying to make changes or provisions to our sick time, for the worst, without any reasoning."

CUPE 1146 represents 33 employees at Oxford Public Health with public health inspectors, hygienists, dental assistants, nutritionists, dieticians, program secretaries, parent resource visitors, epidemiologists, smoke free tobacco coordinator, youth engagement coordinator and public health planners. The previous contract expired on December 31st of last year and talks have been ongoing since April.

LeChasseur says the union is urging management to return to the bargaining table with the full intention of bargaining and avoiding a service disruption.

"Our members promote and maintain public health in Oxford County. We want to continue to provide these important services to residents in our community – the only way to do that is if both parties are interested in reaching a contract. So far, the employer has not showed any willingness to get there, and we are urging management to resume bargaining with a better attitude."

At this time all of the programs and services offered by Public Health are running normally.

The County issued a press release today saying they hope to reach an agreement by Tuesday when both parties meet with a Ministry of Labour appointed conciliator. You can find their reaction to the pending work stoppage here.

The press release states the County has made an offer to the union.

"We believe we have put forward a fair and respectful offer that considers the needs of our CUPE employees and of the County. Out of respect for the process, at this time, we are only discussing details of our offer with the CUPE negotiating team."

The County does have plans in place in the case of a strike and you can find updates online here.