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MIr'r~'~i ~>~'r" ~#- '7 P~. I anainClil Vol. 1i9 NO. lU Be our guest aiganizer Carol Brooks (loft) end historie honmowner Tosca Corradleti eagsriy awat tht. S.turday's Unltod Way Chrlmas Hous Tour. Tickets are availabie through sveral clown- town busnesses Includlng A Country Mlle, FemInIne Wuy end Royal LoPage. vember 10, 1998 44 Pages 750 (GST included) Hospital support staff may stage illegal strike By KAREN SMITH The Champion Unionized support staff at Milton District Hospital - amnong 50,000 such employees province-wide - may conduct an illegal strike. The hospital cleaners, lab technicians and various support staff - members Of the Canadien Union of Public Employees (CUPE) local 1065 - will take strike votes over the next two weeks. -'l don't think anything cen happen until the end of November," said CUPE spokesperson Robert Lamoureux. Contrat talks between the union and the At Faim Museum Former staff face fraud charges Two former employees of the Ontario Agricultural Museum face conspiracy, theft, fraud and breach of trust charges fol- lowing a lengthy OPP investigation. Inspector Dennis Herdman of the OPP's anti-rackets section said an anonymous letter was sent to the then deputy minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs corn- plaining of a possible misuse of public assets at the museum totalling $30,000. In September, 1996, information was received that was similar to the complaints contained in dhe anonymous letter, he said. The OPP investigation beg.an in October, 1996. The previously provincial government-operated Tremaine Road museum, now operated by a group of citi- zens and renamed the Farm Museum, closed that year. A 47-year-old Guelph man, a former museumn construction manager, is charged with fraud over $5,000, theft over $5,000, conspiracy to defraud the Ontario govemn- ment, nine counts of breach of trust, and five each of fraud over $5.000 and theft under $5,000. A 67-year-old Syer Drive man, whc retirecl from the museum as its financia manager in 1996, faces a charge of con- spiracy to defraud the government ol Ontario. 'he charges surmound the theft of money and property from the museum, Insp, Herdman said. Mme men wili appear in court Nov. 30. the bargaining agent for the province's hospitals - broke off late last month and were headed to arbitration. The OHA bas offered workers a five- year deal with no raises for the first two years and a one per cent increase in each of the last three years. Hospitals also want contract language allowing greater flexibility to contract out somne of the work done by unionized workers. "We put what we tbought was a fair and reasonahie offer on the table," said OHA spokesperson Stephen Orsini. He said hospitals have contingency plans in place in case of a strike, but he has "faith that employees will put patients' nee"sfirst." Hospital workers lost the right to strike in the 1960s when they were declared essential employees, but staged a bnief, illegal walkout inl198 1. No talks between the two sides have been scheduled. ri v rcntshotaeofdersinai The 1ovoraaoa edCrs ^Divrs.aeribre o hi Diea epos. Toouetooer eor for morioma ton, tati nf RdCs s iat- 6323.atshrae fdrvr i i A Metrolnrt rmminitv Newsnaper Tr- 1 1 110 ýTIrl -- . , .1 Vol. 139 No. 70