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'We should embrace the future and the possibilities it holds.' - Patty Rout.
Toronto (3 June 2009) - Maintaining public health care, protecting pensions and building organizational strength are the greatest challenges facing Ontario's largest union, says Patty Rout, first vice-president and treasurer of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE).
In a commentary following the OPSEU's annual convention in Toronto, Rout says the "state and sustainability" of health care "looms as an issue" that will touch everyone yet is drifting without any clear policy direction.
"We have watched successive provincial governments chip away at a fully-financed public health care system, equally accessible to all, through their indifference and their unwillingness to stand up to private interests," she writes.
"This is particularly evident with Local Health Integrated Networks - or LHINs - as they're commonly called. Since they became the centerpiece of the provincial government's delivery of local health services they have proven to be costly, unaccountable and too often disinterested in serving the common good. They're inclined to cut back on badly needed services - particularly in rural and remote regions - while handing the job over to the private sector."
Job security threatened
Rout says LHINs threaten the job security of health workers and there is no better way to restore democracy to health care decision making than reforming "these unresponsive local bodies."
Rout says the global economic recession has also shown how vulnerable pension plans have become.
"In example after example we have seen how the retirement dreams of working people have been shattered because of mismanagement, ineptitude and greed on the part of so-called money managers," she says. "More than anything we must maintain stability in our plans."
At the same time, OPSEU itself must build for the future by engaging in renewed dialogue with activists, members and staff, the broader labour movement and the public to meet the organizational challenges of representing public sector workers in the years ahead.
"We want to grow, but how? We seek national and international worker solidarity, by which means? We wish to build social and economic equality, using what tools?" Rout asks.
"As the most recent economic meltdown has illustrated, predicting the future is an inexact science. No one can be certain what lies around the corner. But that shouldn't mean we retrench from the task. On the contrary. We should embrace the future and the possibilities it holds. Inside the Canadian labour movement I can think of no better place to start that discussion than right here at OPSEU."
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE