President of CUPE Ontario Fred Hahn and CUPE Local 2974 Unit Chair Lori Wightman speak to media about results of a poll on the Essex County library strike, August 30, 2016. (Photo by Maureen Revait)  
President of CUPE Ontario Fred Hahn and CUPE Local 2974 Unit Chair Lori Wightman speak to media about results of a poll on the Essex County library strike, August 30, 2016. (Photo by Maureen Revait)
Windsor

Poll Says Mayors Are Mishandling Strike

A poll paid for by CUPE 2974 indicates two-thirds of Essex County voters believe mayors are doing a poor job handling the library strike.

The poll was conducted by Environics Research Group who polled over 1,000 Essex County residents to gauge public opinion about the strike.

CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn says he hopes this shows mayors that people are aware of the strike and sympathize with the workers.

"What I hope the mayors who make up the council see from this poll is that the people in these communities value these services, they value the workers, they have sympathy with them and they think the politicians are bungling this," says Hahn.

The poll also shows two-thirds believe it's the mayors' responsibility to resolve the strike, and over half of the people polled say how this situation is handled will have an impact on how they vote in the next election.

The Essex County library employees have been on strike for 67 days. The main roadblock in negotiations has been proposed changes to the sick time policy.

"We have no other major stumbling blocks other than this," says Unit Chair Lori Wightman. "If we could get management to look at us as the group that we are, we're part-time, so you can't cookie-cutter us in with what you want to do for the full-time."

There are no future negotiation dates set, but CUPE says they are ready to go back to the bargaining table at any time.

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