Hydro One professionals on one-day forced outage

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Professional employees at Hydro One began a one-day "forced outage" May 25.

This is an historic occasion: in more than fifty years as an organized group, Ontario's electricity professionals have never before been forced to withdraw their labour to obtain a contract.

"A highly successful two-week work-to-rule campaign hasn't convinced Hydro One management to be fair," said Keith Rattai, the Society's Hydro One Vice President. "We feel we have no choice to but to raise the pressure.

"We want nothing more than to settle this dispute and get back to work," he continued. "But Hydro One management's out of control, asking us to accept what is clearly unacceptable. Their boss - Premier McGuinty - should take responsibility before it goes any further."

The Society has called on all Hydro One professionals to be absent from the workplace today. Pickets will be set up in various Ontario locations to demonstrate Society members' resolve.

The demands Hydro One management is making of its professionals have been resoundingly rejected by two votes of Society-represented employees, both with more than 90 per cent of employees voting, and both by over 95 per cent.

Rejected were: - The Hydro One management proposal that all professionals hired after March 31, 2005 be subject to a wage scale 10 per cent lower than that of current employees, and lower pension and health benefits - for their entire careers - Adding four hours of work per week with no compensation - an eleven per cent cut in pay, or 25 days of unpaid labour per year.

"This dispute could be settled pretty quickly," said Rattai. "All we're asking for is a settlement along the lines of what the Power Workers' Union got. They represent workers some of our members supervise. Why should we have to accept concessions they didn't even have to face?"