Despite similar logos, school workers' union has 'zero connection' with 'Vaughan Working Families'

PEEL, ON, Feb. 7, 2020 /CNW/ - The President of the Educational Resource Facilitators of Peel (ERFP) says her union has "absolutely zero connection" with the shadowy campaign that has spent tens of thousands of dollars on anti-union advertising.

"I want to reassure both the families that we support and all the other school unions standing strong against the Ford government's cuts that our union has absolutely zero connection with the so-called 'Vaughan Working Families,'" said ERFP President Hilary Campbell. "There may be some vague similarities in our logos, but that's where any similarity ends.

"We value openly and transparently fighting to protect the education our children receive. All this other group seems to value is throwing slurs at education workers from behind a veil of anonymity."

ERFP's logo features the highly stylized silhouettes of five people standing together. The logo for Vaughan Working Families, which has appeared in ads in newspapers and on social media, features the highly stylized silhouettes of three people.

"You've got to wonder just how low this shadowy campaign will go in order to sow confusion and try to break the solidarity of education workers," said OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas. "They've already ripped off the 'working families' name that union coalitions have used in the past. And now it turns out that they're ripping off the design of union logos, too.

"Really makes you wonder who in the Vaughan area might have so much money at their disposal and so few scruples about using it against workers."

The members of ERFP, who work as Educational Assistants and Designated Early Childhood Educators at the Peel Regional School Board, bargain provincially with OPSEU school board members in a coalition called the Ontario Coalition of Education Workers.

But their negotiations have ground to a halt as they wait for the government to schedule new bargaining dates.

"Some deep-pocketed and secretive campaign isn't going to stop us from bargaining as hard as we can to offer the best education possible to all of Ontario's students," said Campbell.

SOURCE Educational Resource Facilitators of Peel

ERFP President Hilary Campbell, 1-877-578-7729; OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas, 613-329-1931