Members of OPSEU Local 121 held a rally in front of the courthouse in Goderich today.
President Mitch Hutchinson claims the provincial government is cutting public sector wages and introducing a new starting wage scale. He says workers starting out would have to work twelve years to get to what would be a basic wage.
Hutchinson also contends the province is cutting benefits and pensions with the goal of privatizing up to 35,000 jobs.
"Anyone that is already working for the Ontario government, they're looking at benefits being slashed, their retirement pay is being slashed, everything is being affected," says Hutchinson. "The Liberal government is taking everything away from the Ontario public sector that we have, just trying break us, then privatize us."
Hutchinson points out the government claims it has no money because of the deficit and OPSEU workers have had to deal with wage freezes for over eight years.