The OPG Local ratified its new collective agreement on November 16. The ratification vote passed with 1,606 Society-represented employees (90.9%) in favour and 160 Society-represented employees (9.1%) opposed. Sixty percent of Society-represented employees at OPG turned out to vote.
Local leadership conducted 12 membership meetings and one teleconference town hall to educate members on the new agreement. About 1,400 members participated in one of the information sessions that were held over a period of three weeks. This was in addition to more than 400 e-mails and hundreds of phone calls that OPG Local leaders responded to to address individual members’ questions about the new agreement.
“I am pleased that the majority of the OPG Society members voted ‘yes’ and supported the collective agreement we negotiated and recommended to the membership,” said OPG Local Vice President Joe Fierro. “In these difficult times for collective bargaining, the bargaining team did the best they could in reaching this two-party agreement.”
Fierro also acknowledged the hard work of the bargaining committee that negotiated the agreement and informed members of its details during the ratification process. The committee was comprised of Alex Saba, Andy D’Andrea, Leon Simeon, Brent Whalen, Shirley Kung, Ross Mahadeo, and staff officer Andre Kolompar.
