Bill Walker walked into the room with a big smile but his body language gave away his discomfort of being a Tory MPP in a union hall. He constantly fidgeted with his purple scarf and never strayed far from the door.
The MPP from Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound was asked to come to a media conference OPSEU was holding in his community. We were pleading the case of 35 low-wage VON personal support workers that were likely to be on strike the following week.
Walker arrived late – about 20 minutes after the media had left.
When asked point blank whether he would join the workers on the picket line, he didn’t hesitate in saying “no.”
Walker said it wasn’t his place to interfere in the bargaining process. Yet barely a moment later he made it clear that it was his party’s position to interfere.
Walker said he supported his leader’s call for a two-year across-the-board wage freeze for everybody in the public sector – no exceptions. That includes these 35 part-time workers who are struggling to make ends meet for their families on a wage that for most falls below $14 an hour.
These workers have already had their wages frozen for six years.
It’s one of the reasons they chose to unionize.
Walker shrugged off the six years, noting as an MPP his wages had also been frozen. Of course, Walker didn’t get to the legislature until October 2011, meaning he himself has only sustained a wage freeze for a little over two years.
OPSEU Diablogue 