CSN is cutting staff and services

Friends,

Many of you have questions about CSN and what’s really motivating the raids they’re attempting on us and other unions.

Look through CSN’s budget documents and the answer becomes painfully clear: they’re losing members, they’re bleeding revenue, and they’re getting desperate.

In other words: they don’t care about Corrections – they don’t care about you – but they do care about the dues you’d pay them.

(Dues, by the way, which will be much higher than the dues you’re currently paying OPSEU. For example, federal Correctional Officers in CSN pay dues that are nearly 50 per cent higher than OPSEU’s.)

How bad is it at Quebec-based CSN? Very bad.

They’ve lost more than 22,000 members over the past few years, which means they’ve lost more than $11 million in revenue.

All those losses have forced them to cut 22 union staff positions and slash the amount they spend on member services; services like health and safety, legal services, and campaign support.

Ask yourself: how can CSN provide you the bargaining and grievance support you need when they’re cutting their own staff?

They can’t.

You are too smart to jump on a sinking ship. Especially when that jump will also mean you’ll have to endure years without a raise, and a lot less money in your well-earned and well-deserved retirement.

In OPSEU, you’re standing on steady ground. Our finances are healthy, our membership is growing faster than any other union in the country, and Correctional Workers already have the statutory right to bargain your own collective agreement.

You’ve got everything to lose with CSN. And everything to gain with OPSEU.  Don’t throw away your future, stick with a sure thing. We have come a long way together. Then. Now. Always.

In solidarity,

Warren (Smokey) Thomas
OPSEU President