News and views from SA Canada Will OFL join IPSEU to fight Ontario cuts?

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“For instance, I am president of the Manitoba Society of Seniors, and was appointed by the Cabinet to the Council on Aging as an advisor to the minister and on the boards of half a dozen other community-based organizations and as such have access to all the relevant ministers and their departments even though I am constantly reminding people that I am a Trotskyist, and be“Last year I was the Campaign Manager for our MLA Rob Altemeyer and ran the most successful campaign, next to Greg Selinger’s in St. Boniface. I publish an online community newsletter that goes to most of the local NDP members once or twice a week, which has some pretty radical stuff in it sometimes, and I have never been challenged because of my leftist slant. Actually I get lots of fan mail from people who think that is the ing inaccessible and out of touch with this growing and powerful sector of activists. There are some members who are concerned and upset because they feel abandoned by big daddy, but most members feel honoured that he was chosen as ambassador and will do a good job. Then again, there are a lot of us who believe that either there [Washington], or in the [appointed Canadian] What about Ashton’s so-called leftist stance, including his pledge to freeze/reduce university tuition and ban “Ashton’s base was to some extent in the northern areas of the province where he comes from, although Selinger cut into that with support from First Nations’ delegates. Community activists seem to be divided into those who basically support the NDP and those who stand aside and are somewhat cynical about politics; the latter provided the main active base of Ashton’s support. Some were traditional leftists, but for the most “As for his ‘left’ policies, for the most part it was seen as posturing. It is easy to talk about strikebreaking legislation in a province that hasn’t seen a scab situation in years and where strikes that last more than a few days are pretty rare. Unions haven’t suggested anti-scab legislation and only the Firefighters and the Steelworkers from Thompson (the area Ashton represents in the Legislature) supported him. The main bulk of the Manitoba Federation of Labour supported Selinger. Students were divided about 52/48 for Selinger. I don’t think they reThe Manitoba NDP convention was over in three short hours; no policy debate, no election of officers. The leadership vote was Selinger 1317 and Ashton 685. The regular annual party provincial convention will occur in the spring. By then, in the face of the deepening global economic crisis, the direction of the new NDP Premier may be clear. The question is: what will the new crop of Manitoba NDP members have to say about it? n was a signal that a major assault on public service wages and programmes for the poor is in the works.

This is the major challenge facing delegates at the biennial convention of the Ontario Federation of Labour, Nov. 23-27 at the Sheraton Centre in Toronto.

Firebrand CUPE Ontario leader Sid Ryan is set to replace retiring OFL President Wayne Samuelson. Many labour activists wonder whether this will mark a shift towards mass action to challenge labour concessions, disappearing pensions and benefits, and rising unemployment (expected to stay above 9 per cent, officially, in Ontario for the next three years).

A Workers’ Agenda is urgently needed to oppose the coming attacks on the Ontario public service, and to support the strike of the Vale Inco workers, now in its fourth month at Sudbury and Port Colborne, Ont., and in Labrador. Required is a programme to reject further labour concessions in the auto sector, to nationalize industry instead of dishing up corporate bail-outs, and to demand steeply progressive taxation of big business and the rich.

A good place to start would be a commitment to mobilize labour’s strength in numbers alongside the 115,000 member Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union as it takes on the Liberal McGuinty government’s likely targetting of wages, jobs and vital public services.

OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas issued a statement on Oct. 23. Here are some excerpts: “Finance Minister Dwight Duncan promised a ‘sweeping review’ of government spending. Premier Dalton McGuinty would not rule out unpaid days off for the million Ontarians who earn their bread in the provincial public sector. And the spectre of privatization now looms over every public service worker.

“The Liberals’ plan is to make us pay. … Dwight Duncan won’t have much luck looking for waste in public services (except, of course, for the hundreds of millions he’s throwing away on private consultants). We already had a ‘sweeping review’ from 1995 to 2003. It was called the Common Sense Revolution (of Tory Premier Mike Harris), and public services still haven’t recovered from the brutal trauma of those years.

“As far as unpaid days off, a lot of us remember [then-NDP Premier] Bob Rae’s ‘Social Contract’ all too well. But much has changed since the Rae days. For one thing, the Social Contract would be struck down by the courts today. In 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that (British Columbia) Premier Gordon Campbell was wrong to tear up the collective agreements of health workers in that province. Since then, collective bargaining has been recognized as a protected right under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“McGuinty can’t legislate his way out of this. If he wants to use public employees to buy Ontario out of the recession, his two main options are: (a) privatization, and (b) mass layoffs.

“Privatization is a stupid idea. It cuts services, it destroys jobs, and it usually comes with major cost overruns. And from a budget standpoint, selling off assets like the LCBO [Liquor Control Board of Ontario]—which right-wingers are already barking for—would kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

“As for more layoffs, they can only weaken local economies, destroy the services people need, and generate anything.

agree to the wage cuts or ‘Dalton Days’ he wants. “How is it fair that a part-time secretary at a community college, who makes maybe $27,000 a year, should be the one paying off the deficit when the Bay Street banker is not? Which is more important, providing professional help to a child with a mental illness, or giving income tax breaks to profitable corporations and obscene bonuses to their CEOS?

“Public services aren’t just for public employees. They exist because we all need them. And that’s why saving them is not the responsibility of public employees alone.

“We chose careers in public service not to get rich, but because we care— for people, for families, for communities. It’s time our commitment got the respect it deserves. We are already planning a bold strategy to fight the coming attack. It will take courage, commitment, brains, resources, and leadership.

“Working together as we have done so many times before, I know we will do whatever it takes”, Smokey Thomas concluded. Will the Ontario Federation of Labour do whatever it takes? Will OPSEU undertake mass job action, and invite all workers and allies to join the struggle? Therein hangs a tale. n