OPSEU threatens to split Ontario labour
2011Julius Arscott 2011-11Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 9 →
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The last thing the labour movement needs at this time is division. Yet this is exactly what is happening due to a dispute between officers of the Ontario Fed eration of Labour, including OFL President Sid Ryan, and some affiliated unions including the Ontario Pub lic Service Employees Union and its president, Warren “Smokey” Thomas.
The dispute may result in the withdrawal of Can ada’s largest provincial public service union, the 125,000-strong OPSEU, from the OFL. The OPSEU Ex ecutive Board decided to suspend payment of its dues to the OFL and to recommend that the union vote at its April 2012 convention to disaffiliate.
Reasons given for this split include faults in the OFL Constitution that undermine proper representation in the labour body, along with claims that it is difficult to negotiate internal issues with Sid Ryan. Ryan was ac claimed to the OFL top job in Fall 2009.
Non-payment of dues has already led to OPSEU be ing denied delegation status to the Nov. 21-25 OFL convention. The decision to withhold dues was made minus any consultation with the OPSEU membership. It contravenes the union’s constitution, which states that OPSEU is responsible for paying its dues to labour bodies to which it is affiliated, and that any decision to disaffiliate can be made only at an OPSEU convention.
OPSEU’s withdrawal from the house of labour in On tario will result in serious damage to the labour move ment in Ontario, which is already under fierce attack by the employers and the state.
Working-class solidarity and unity in action is now urgently needed. Sadly, instead of proposing a pro gramme for militant action, the bureaucrats are diss ing one another. However, opposition to the split is emerging. Socialists and other labour activists in OP SEU are campaigning against the unprincipled deci sion by OPSEU’s EBMs.
The Greater Toronto Area Council, which encom passes dozens of OPSEU locals in Toronto, passed a motion on Oct. 19 asking the Executive Board to re scind its decision, and to resume paying dues to the OFL. GTAC also asks that OPSEU’s president immedi ately meet with Sid Ryan to resolve the issues in dis pute.
Activists know that this bureaucratic spat is oc curring at a very bad time, and that our leadership should not descend to the level of personal attacks, even character assassination, in dealing with disputes amongst affiliates. It is a poisonous distraction from the bosses’ drive to squeeze workers’ wages, benefits and pensions. Workers deserve much better than this from our labour leadership. n