Media Release: LDLC Calls Out Western and the Mayor

The London and District Labour Council Calls out the Western University Employer and the Mayor on the Board of Governors over the Failure to Address Fair Collective Bargaining issues for CUPE 2361: A Crisis of Corporate Greed and Accountability at the University

“Enough is enough,” says Patti Dalton President of the London and District Labour Council, calling out President Alan Shepard and the University employer, to negotiate a fair settlement immediately.  “While the administration are gleaning greedy corporate salaries, CUPE 2361 workers, who are the backbone of the Western University operations, are paid less than the cost of living, and far less than comparable workers in the education sector.”

“This is a glaring matter of the total disrespect of the corporate employer to make profits at the expense of these workers and to curtail strike actions.  They have also implemented measures to cancel the benefits of workers which is, in my view, a human rights violation, and to engage in many extreme practices such as notifying police of ‘mob behaviour’ related to legal picket lines, which resulted in numerous police vehicles and the riot squad being mobilized” said Dalton.

There are also a number of health and safety violations because of the replacement workers, known as ‘scab’ labour, who are trying to do the work that CUPE 2361 workers have done for decades. It is the CUPE 2361 workers who conduct the most safe and effective work across the university campus, according to established labour laws.  “President Alan Shepard did an interview today with CBC in which he falsely claimed that operations are fine – very clearly, they are not,” continued Dalton.

The London and District Labour Council calls on the Western University employer to come clean and get back to the bargaining table.  The employer is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to obstruct the courageous CUPE 2361 legal strike, and to carry on with an unsafe agenda for students and staff on campus.

We further call out the Mayor of London Josh Morgan to exert his influence on the Western University Board of Governors to put an end to this massive failure of fairness and accountability, and to get the employer back to the bargaining table, instead of playing these corporate greed games.  “We will not stop as the London and District Labour Council, and as a broader labour movement, to the ongoing fight for justice and fairness for the CUPE 2361 workers.  Enough is enough.  It’s time for accountability on corporate greed and disrespect for workers.”