PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 1980. WHITBY FREE PRESS whitby Voice of the County Town Michael Ian Burgess, Publisher - Managing Editor, The only Whitby newspaper independently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whîtby residents. Published every Wednesday by M.B.M. Publishing and PhotographIy Inc. Phone 668-61 Il The Free Press Building, 131 Brock Street North, CommunIty Editor . Miko KiwiI Production manager Ma BSuM Advertilsing Manager Karen Thompson M. NÇI460 ~%~Ir~ ~'a~l~" o! Ce'wne lto Local 332 president Peter Dashfield says that.... We 're an ami-union, labor newspaper Dear Sir, bers. Emplayed in the residents entrusted to I was somewhat Safety, regardless of nathing Dut plain Your editorial, "Tax- field of mental retar- Our care. On behaîf of confused with your their classification. Irresponsible and a payers are Losers in dation, saciety must the 10,000 members statement re the Issue I will not, at this time, distartian of the facts. OPSEU Debate" was a realize that the care of whom 1 represent of Health and Safety, respond ta your You certainly are an an- aross mIsrepreSen- the mentally retarded is within the Ministry of stating the palice of- statement that p alice ti-ueion, anti-labour b-.mo n- the % .g..t4v a -ri i f officers are ln a oreater newspaper. tation of the facts. You stated that OP- SEU did not feel a wage increase of up to 24.3 percent or $3,000 a year more, was enough. You somehow forgot to state that the tentative wage offer was: 1. A two year con- tract, no one year. 2. The increase would be in 6 steps over a two year period, resulting in a real wage offer of approximately 9 per cent per year, depending upon your classification. This tentative wage offer has been turned down by 68 per cent of our membership across this Province because it does not reflect an equitable wage in- crease consistant with inflation and the cost of living. Educational and professional standards have risen over the last few years for our mem- now only entrusted to qualified professionals and salaries have not been adjusted to reflect this very impor- tant fact. You raised a concern that the resources of the taxpayer are fast running out. Are our members not also tax- payers and residents of this community? As well, do we not have the same demands put on us, including keeping a roof over our heads, food on our table? Do we not see our employer, the On- tario Government, sup- portive of the multi- national corporations who keep increasing their profit level at the expense of the average working man or woman. You also stated that our members have not demonstrated that they have as a priority the wel1 being of the Communny anu oauu Services, we invite you to spend a day at any one of Mental Retar- dation Facilities across the province. Yes you see, we care but remember that we have needs as well. Who else cares. cers aitve gu V1t public on the safety issues that affect them. They certainly have and quite rightly so. Any worker in this country should have the right to the highest level of protection possible under Health and amount of danger than OPSEU members because I am not in a position or feel qualified to do so, however, I would suggest that neither are you. In fact, your entire editorial was Yours truly, Peter Dashfield Ministry Chairman, ComSoc President, Local 332 Ontario Public Service Employees Union OPSEU members will be the losers if they accept latest offer says Upshaw Dear Sir: I read with great respect your article of April 2, 1980 entitled "Taxpayers are losers in OPSEU dispute". We the 6,000 tax paying members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union who are affected by the latest offer by the On- tario Government feel that we, our families, and ultimately the patients we look after are definitely losers if we are forced to accept this latest offer. Contrary to what you would have your readers believe the latest wage offer was not 24.3 per cent for one year but 19.4 to 24.3 per cent over two years. The second year 1981 realizing an 8 per- cent increase in January of 81 and a further 11/4 per cent in April of 1981. You men- tioned that "the coun- sellors, child care workers and nursing assistants at both Whitby Psychiatric Hospital and the Durham Centre for the Developmentally Han- dicapped are indeed entitled to reasonable and equitable wage and benefit increases con- sistant with inflation and the cost of living". We in OPSEU and I am sure your readers also would be extremely in- terested in your ex- planation that 9¼ per cent in 1981 could possibly be consistant with the spiraling in- flation and cost of living. It should also be pointed out that In the past few years OPSEU members have had to settle for wage in- creases of 4 to 6 per cent. Instead of cat- ching up with inflation and cost of living we are falling further and further behind. Please CONT D ON PAGE 6 i I OPENNG _p»OTHý7Ro- P.O. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. c p c 9 N,*QrngER PA . -