Written by Socialist Alternative members in Ontario.
On October 30, the Ford government announced legislation that would make it illegal for 55,000 education workers in the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) to go on strike on Friday, November 4. Stephen Lecce, Ontario’s Minister of Education, announced the emergency legislation on Halloween but he certainly was not handing out any treats. Instead, he offered the poisoned pill of Bill 28 or Keeping Students in Schools Act. This had two elements to it – first, a pre-emptive attack against CUPE, making it illegal for them to walk off the job and, second, the invoking of the “Notwithstanding” to overrule the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The government is also imposing a new contract that cuts real pay and slashes benefits.
The labour movement cannot allow the Ford government’s attack on the democratic rights of workers to succeed. Not just CUPE workers but the wider labour movement should come out on Friday in defiance of the government to defend their rights. And the strike action should not stop on November 5, the union should continue the strike until their demands are won. The Act includes fines of $4,000 a day for every worker on strike. To be successful in the face of the massive fines threatened by the Ford government, massive solidarity will be needed. The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) should begin planning the possibility of a 24-hour solidarity strike to defeat this brazen attack on the labour movement.
Notwithstanding Clause
The Nothwithstanding Clause gives provincial legislatures the ability, through the passage of a law, to override certain portions of the charter for a five-year term. The clause has been rarely invoked in Canada but Ford already used or threatened to use it on two previous occasions, both for anti-democratic purpose. Bill 28 represents an unprecedented and vicious attack on a section of workers, overwhelmingly women and low paid.
Ford’s actions will have the result that many workers who voted for him in the last election will now see through his hypocrisy of claiming to be against the elites and on the side of the worker. Union leaders should examine why they ever fell for Ford’s false promises. Of all the unions that declared solidarity with CUPE, the most notable is the Labourers’ International Union of North America – LiUNA – which endorsed Ford’s Conservatives in the spring election and is now lobbying him to restore collective bargaining rights.
A Modest Wage Demand
The criminalization of a planned strike by school custodians, education assistants, early childhood educators and administrative staff comes on the heels of a massive 96.5 percent vote in favour of strike action. These CUPE workers are among the lowest paid in the education sector. The education workers are asking for an 11.7 percent annual raise, as well as overtime at twice the regular pay rate, 30 minutes of paid prep time per day for educational assistants and early childhood educators, an increase in benefits and professional development for all workers.
The increase is needed not least to catch up with lost wages arising from Bill 124, also christened with an Orwellian name Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, 2019. The purpose of this Act was “to ensure that increases in public sector compensation reflect the fiscal situation of the Province, are consistent with the principles of responsible fiscal management and protect the sustainability of public services,” in other words, screw the workers. Taking account of inflation (from 2012 to 2021, education workers’ wages increased about 8.5 percent while over the same period, inflation in Ontario rose 17.8 percent, meaning the workers essentially took a massive pay cut over that period) together with wage increases denied them over the last three years, it’s no wonder that CUPE workers see a 11.7 percent wage increase to be both necessary and realistic. Indeed it is – with inflation currently running at 8 percent, all workers should take inspiration from what CUPE is demanding.
The Government has the Money
Actual government spending in the fiscal year that ended in March was $2.5 billion lower than the budget spending plan, including $1.4 billion lower in education. Paying the CUPE demand in full would come to $264 million a year, well within the $1.4 billion unspent from the education budget.
In the August, following the publication of results of standardized tests showing that only 47 percent of Grade 6 students met the provincial standard in math, the province announced that the revised provincial budget would include $225 million for direct payments to parents over the next two years to “help kids catch up.” This is money that individual parents will have to spend to find private tutors – instead of schools be able to spend that money to improve educators’ pay and higher more educators. There is no “accountability,” so beloved of this government. No proof is required of how the money gets spent. It is a further step to privatize education, which will benefit the well-off at the cost of most working-class families.
To further show Ford’s hypocrisy, at the end of June he gave 73 of the 83 Conservative MPPs a pay bump of $16,600 annually on a base MPP salary of $116,500. He didn’t do this through collective bargaining of course and there was a pay freeze still in effect from the previous Liberal government. So, he just gave nearly all the MPPs new job descriptions and the extra money that came with them.
This is the same Doug Ford who is trying to wiggle out of appearing before the Emergencies Act inquiry into the “Convoy” by arguing that he can’t be forced to do so because it would do “irreparable harm” to the independence of legislatures. His hypocrisy knows no bounds. And talking about hypocrisy, how about Justin Trudeau – he criticized the legislation tabled by the Ford government, while he has used back to work legislation, such as to end the national rotating postal strikes in 2018.
Where Now?
“CUPE strikes back” was the front-page headline in the Toronto Star on the morning of October 31. On Tuesday, afternoon, the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) organized a rally, with about 700 in attendance, in downtown Toronto in solidarity with CUPE. The speeches were good and militant – leaders of CUPE promised no backing down, that they were not going to be intimidated by the threat of fines, ($500,000 a day for the union on top of $4,000 a day for individual workers) and they would be out on picket lines for as long as it takes. Other unions promised solidarity, that they would be “standing shoulder to shoulder” with CUPE workers.
However, there are warning signs of the union leaders weakening their position. On Wednesday, the CUPE leadership reduced their pay demand to a 6 percent increase in the hope of getting a deal with the government. On November 3, the Ontario NDP called on the Ford government to force negotiations to binding arbitration. In terms of building solidarity and spreading the message, CUPE’s plans for the strike on Friday are woefully inadequate. Instead of having pickets at every school and work location, the strikers have been instructed to show up at Queens Park for one of two shifts between 8am and 4pm or to go and lobby at a Tory MPP’s office. At the same times. This means losing the opportunity to engage with both teachers at their own schools and the local community members as they pass by the school. Another unfortunate aspect is that the teacher unions have instructed their members to cross picket lines in the event of them being present. Their sad excuse? That “ETFO (elementary teachers) is currently engaged in central bargaining and is not in a legal strike position. Consequently, all ETFO members are legally obligated to attend to regular work duties as employees of their school boards.”
In a more positive approach, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) that organizes 8,000 education workers has stated their members will not go to work on November 5.
The Way Forward
The Ford governments unconscionable assault on the democratic rights of workers cannot be allowed to succeed as it threatens to remove from education workers their most important bargaining tool. Walking off the job on Friday is a necessary first step forward to defeat this attack.
The struggle of CUPE will set the standard for all public sector workers in Ontario – teachers, health workers and many more. All these workers should learn the lesson of BC’s public sector workers who did not wage a united struggle for contacts with good Cost of Living Adjustment.
For this strike to succeed, with the threat of fines for workers and jail time for union leaders, it is necessary for this strike to expand beyond the 55,000 education workers impacted by the legislation. Solidarity across the labour movement among the unions, community members, and all industries is necessary as this attack threatens the fundamental rights of all workers. This solidarity shouldn’t begin and end on Friday. It should continue until the strike is won. As a first step, the OFL should be convening union leaders to prepare the shutting down of the province with a 24-hour solidarity strike.
