MPPs vote to prevent power workers’ strike

TheStar.com
December 21, 2018
Robert Benzie and Rob Ferguson

The Progressive Conservatives have used their majority in the legislature to short-circuit a power workers’ strike that threatened much of Ontario’s electricity system.

After a four-day emergency session of the house, MPPs passed legislation Thursday keeping the 6,000 Power Workers’ Union on the job at government-owned Ontario Power Generation, which generates half of the province’s electricity.

Labour Minister Laurie Scott introduced back-to-work legislation for Ontario’s power workers on Monday.

“The time for action is now,” said Labour Minister Laurie Scott, who shepherded the bill through the legislature over concerns power plants would soon begin being shut down.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, who criticized the government for its handling of the labour dispute, opposed the legislation because it violated the workers’ Charter rights.

All New Democratic MPPs voted against the bill.

But the Liberals and Green Leader Mike Schreiner voted with the majority Tories to pass the legislation by a vote of 72-35. Premier Doug Ford skipped the vote and was absent for question period.

The workers, who operate the Pickering and Darlington nuclear stations as well as 66 hydroelectric stations, had rejected OPG’s offer of a 6.6-per-cent wage increase over three years.

That decision last Friday triggered a 21-day period in which the utility and its employees began taking steps to shut down the plants, including 10 nuclear reactors.

An arbitrator will now determine the next contract for the employees.

PWU president Mel Hyatt said OPG’s refusal to give 300 “term workers” the same rights as full-time employees at Pickering and Darlington remain unpopular with union members.

“These highly-trained and skilled term workers have not been treated fairly or responsibly by OPG,” Hyatt said earlier this week.

“These dedicated men and women, like all our membership, are the backbone of Ontario’s reliable electricity system.”

The dispute forced MPPs, who had risen for the winter break on Dec. 6, into the house last Monday amid fears of the first such work stoppage since 1985.

It’s the closest to Christmas that legislators have met.

It was 1869 the last time legislators sat this close to Christmas.