OPSEU: Niagara Parks Commission Workers March to the Falls to Protest Cut in Hours

May 14, 2009 12:24 ET
OPSEU: Niagara Parks Commission Workers March to the Falls to Protest Cut in Hours

NIAGARA FALLS, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – May 14, 2009) – Niagara Parks Commission workers will march to the Falls on Sunday to protest the Commission slashing their hours.

About 1000 seasonal employees have had their hours reduced from 44 or 40 hours a week to 37.25 hours, resulting in an average pay cut of 6.25 per cent.

The workers say the Commission’s cost-cutting move has dire consequences not only for their own financial situations; seasonal employees earn barely more than the poverty threshold, but also for conditions in the parks.

“The decision to cut hours is making an already bad situation worse,” said Bill Rudd, president of Local 217 of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union. “The grass isn’t being cut, gardens aren’t being tended and service in the restaurants is not at the standard it was before.”

When: Sunday, May 17

What time: 10 a.m. – 12 noon

Where: Workers will assemble near Dixon and Adelaide, march through
the park, arriving at the Falls near Table Rock restaurant at
around 12 noon, where federal and provincial politicians and
other dignitaries have been invited to address the crowd.

The employees affected by the cut in hours range from maintenance workers who look after the Commission’s 1,720 hectares of parkland to the servers in the parks’ five restaurants. At the same time, many managers at the Commission are on Ontario’s “Sunshine List” of public sector employees earning over $100,000 a year.

The march is being jointly organized by OPSEU Local 217, representing parks maintenance and kitchen staff, and Workers United Local 2347, representing restaurant servers.

For more information, please contact
OPSEU Local 217
Bill Rudd
905-658-5305

Peter Kormos M.P.P.

kormos-letter

Commercializing, Privatizing and Disneyfying a Valuable Natural Resource

The followig is taken from Legislative Assembly of Ontario house debates, June 11, 2008:

NIAGARA PARKS COMMISSION

Mr. Peter Kormos: The stated mission of the Niagara Parks Commission is to preserve and enhance the natural beauty of the falls and the Niagara River corridor. You folks who don’t know about it, it’s the jewel in the crown of Ontario, that Niagara Parkway, and the parklands on the west side of the Niagara River.

Well, under the McGuinty government and his handpicked appointees to the commission, that valuable natural resource is being desecrated. I tell you, that’s a crime to generations of Ontarians to come. McGuinty and the Liberals are hell bent on commercializing, privatizing and Disneyfying that valuable natural resource. They may find it cute that their private partners are going to make huge profits on the asphalting and the paving over of Niagara parkland, but we down in Niagara think otherwise.

The most recent victim, of course, is Miller’s Creek Marina, which was privatized last year. Now, the developer, Warren DAC, wants to build a condo complex and shopping sites on Niagara parkland.

The McGuinty government should be protecting this scarce and valuable natural resource. It talks a big game about tourism, but then slams the door in the face of people who want to be stewards of beautiful attractions like Niagara Parks. I call upon this government to immediately rein in its commission.

Town hall meeting condemns privatization of public parkland

Niagara Parks Commission

June 13, 2008 OPSEU leaders, Local 217 activists employed by the Niagara Parks Commission (NPC) and local politicians were joined by a vocal crowd of about 250 area residents last night near the Miller Creek Marina at Fort Erie.

The overflow gathering was held at Black Creek Community Centre not far from where the Parks Commission has joined with the town of Fort Erie to lease out the only public-access boating marina and 45 acres of public parkland to a private company. OPSEU members have operated the marina for generations along with many other public attractions and historic sites along the Niagara River. The privatization scheme would see exclusive condos built along with a shopping centre and an upscale private marina.

Bill Rudd, President of Local 217 kicked off the evening introducing speakers Smokey Thomas and local Liberal MPP Kim Craitor. Rudd bore witness to years of the NPC appointees off-loading public services to private interests and radically downsizing the workforce.

Smokey Thomas acted as MC as well as guest speaker. He set the tone for a string of 20 passionate speakers who each took a turn condemning the NPC’s latest privatization scheme. Thomas related his own experience defending Kingston’s shoreline and said it’s a good fight when we defend irreplaceable public services and protect our heritage. He pledged to push for a review of the provincially appointed NPC and committed OPSEU support for a coalition to organize ongoing opposition to this latest irresponsible privatization

Senior citizens, environmentalists, Conservatives, New Democrats, a Green candidate and a large number of residents attacked the NPC and the municipal council who initiated the development plan. Among the complaints:

The massive privatization plan defies the official NPC mandate to preserve and enhance the area’s parks and waterways,

• threatens pristine parklands

• includes a dangerous highway rerouting

• has no adjacent sewage line or other municipal infrastructure

• would force ratepayers to pay the freight in property taxes

Before the town hall meeting ended a large coalition had formed to take on the NPC and lobby the province and the municipality to suspend the Miller Creek marina development.

Town Hall Meeting Set

This Town Hall meeting is to give you the opportunity to find out, question, and discuss the proposed plans for Miller’s Creek Marina and the Cairns Crescent Area.

Date: June 12, 2008

Time: 7 PM

Location: Black Creek Community Center

2959 Baker Rd Niagara Falls, ON