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Locked-out workers descend on town hall

NEWS RELEASE CUPE 1490 ************************** BLACK RIVER-MATHESON – This morning locked-out workers from the Township of Black River-Matheson began picketing the municipality’s office on Park Lane in Matheson to protest the shutdown

NEWS RELEASE

CUPE 1490

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BLACK RIVER-MATHESON – This morning locked-out workers from the Township of Black River-Matheson began picketing the municipality’s office on Park Lane in Matheson to protest the shutdown of public services across the township.

The workers are calling on the mayor and council to end the lockout and order the township’s bargaining committee to return to negotiations.

Picketing at the township office on Park Lane will continue until 2 p.m. today and then move to the municipality’s headquarters on Railway Street until 4 p.m.

The 17 full-time employees of Black River Matheson were told late Friday afternoon that the mayor and council had decided to lock them out of their jobs beginning Monday, August 11 at 8 a.m.

Their representatives had been expecting to meet the township’s negotiators on August 14.

“Rather than negotiate, the mayor and council have chosen to shut down services to residents and lock out the people who serve them.

“For residents’ sake, the township’s workers need a partner who is willing to deal with us in good faith,” said Jennifer Barnett, National Representative for the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

The union represents 17 full-time employees in Black River-Matheson, and five summer students.

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