The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Extendicare workers protest potential wage freeze By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF 3 · Friday, April 30, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com Hundreds of unionized workers were out protesting yesterday (Thursday) at the local Wyndham Manor long-term care centre, fighting what they call an unfair wage-freeze demand on them by the employer. The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) members, representing about 100 staff at Wyndham Manor, held a demonstration outside the care facility on Reynolds Street. The demonstration was an information picket and no care was disrupted at the 128-bed facility. The union and Extendicare, a company that manages the care facility, are currently in master contract negotiations for 10 care facilities in Ontario. According to the CAW, Extendicare is using the Ontario government's Bill 16, which is freezing provincial public sector workers' wages for two years, as an excuse to freeze the wages of its own workers for the next two years. "Extendicare took the position that they are covered under Bill 16, even though they're technically, and legally, not," said Bob Chernicki, the CAW's assistant to the national president and head negotiator. "But the bottom line is that they're using that as an excuse to table zero and zero and a host of concessions. What they're doing is taking advantage of these low-paid workers, hid- NIKKI WESLEY / OAKVILLE BEAVER PROTEST PICKET: CAW union members Laurie Bigg, from London, Vicky Anger, from Port Stanley and Jenni Rundle, from London, protest outside Wyndham Manor on Reynolds Street Thursday. The unionized workers say Extendicare is trying to put a two-year wage freeze on the CAW members working at 10 Extendicare facilities in Ontario, including Wyndham Manor. ing behind the shield of a government bill, which they're not covered by." Chernicki said the workers make between $17 to $22 per hour. Extendicare receives funding from the Ontario government and operates 128 beds at the local facility. "We've determined this corporation is not a government agency. It is a private corporation, which last year made an excess in profits of $400 million," Chernicki said. Keith Clement, regional director for Extendicare, said he could not comment on why the corporation has tabled the wage freeze. "We're in negotiations with CAW so we're really not prepared to negotiate through the media," he said. "With any type of any demonstration that CAW is planning, resident care is not going to be compromised," he added. "We're working with them in that regard and we're going to follow the process that we've got on the table." There are some 1,200 CAW workers who will be holding similar demonstrations at 10 Extendicare homes in Ontario. Oakville was the site of the first demonstration. Several hundred CAW members from around the province came to the protest site in Oakville. "This is a multi-million dollar corporation with profit," said the CAW Local 504 president Randy Smith, representing the Oakville workers at the demonstration. "There's no need for the workers to go without an increase in wages for what they have to do here." It is illegal for health care workers to strike in Ontario. "We want to send a message to Extendicare from our union that this isn't right," said Katha Fortier at the protest. She's the director of health care with the CAW. "We don't believe they can hide behind this, certainly not when they make the profits that they do. Extendicare was absolutely untouched by the recession and, in fact, its profits went up from 2008 to 2009." LOOKING FORWARD with FASHION