....but in all fairness the use of the word "promise" when talking about the McGinty left wing liberals is at best naive.
MacGregor Point and Sauble Falls students get support from the public
July 27, 2009
Students at MacGregor Point and Sauble Falls Provincial Parks, members of OPSEU Local 224, flagged down cars July 25 to let people know they aren’t getting the vacation and holiday pay they were promised.
“The most common reaction we got was, ‘the government can do that?” reports Caitlin Underwood, a gate attendant at MacGregor Point who helped organize the information pickets at the parks. “People were surprised that the government doesn’t have to follow the same rules as everyone else. They were supportive of our fight to get back the pay.”
This is Caitlin’s third summer at the park. She will be entering her fourth year in the Nursing program at MacMaster University in the fall.
Like most students, Caitlin counted on receiving the 8.16 per cent pay in lieu of vacation and statutory holidays this summer. She had received it in past summers and signed a contract in April which promised students the pay.
“You take a job expecting the money and then you don’t get it,” says Caitlin. “It’s not right. I could have gone and worked somewhere else and made more.”
“Just because we work for the government doesn’t mean we deserve less than everyone else,” she adds. “The government is showing us that we aren’t important to them.”
About 3,400 high school, college and university students work for the Ontario government in the summer. They work in provincial parks, travel information centres, tourist attractions and for many other programs. Many of the government services that Ontarians enjoy in the summer rely largely on student labour.
More protests are expected to be staged by students in the provincial parks during the civic holiday long weekend.
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