News and views from SA Canada All out for Jan. 26 in Toronto!

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The conflict between public-sector workers and the government of Ontario continues to simmer. In December, el­ ementary school teachers held rotating strikes across the province. Secondary school teachers withdrew many services, just short of a total strike.

Leaders of both groups promised a province-wide strike to protest the loss of collective bargaining and the right to strike in the education sector. Then Queen’s Park imposed the terms and con­ ditions set out in Bill 115 on Jan. 3. CUPE Ontario leaders, representing education support workers, had pledged to join such a protest, but made a separate deal with the province at the New Year.

Bowing to pressure, the government pledged to “rescind” Bill 115 by the end of January—with all the imposed and “ne­ The hockey lock-out: gotiated” deals in place for the next two years. Thus, wages are frozen and sick leave is permanently cut in half. Teach­ ers are barred from striking, but can le­ gally continue to withhold voluntary ser­ vices. In 1973 Ontario teachers won the right to strike by resigning en masse. But union officials seem unwilling now to go beyond challenging the law in court—a process expected to take four years.

The Ontario Public Service, in the midst of difficult bargaining, is battling a cli­ mate of concessions by the largest labour unions in the country. Observers compare today’s attacks on labour to the dark days of Tory Premier Mike Harris. Activists are calling for “Days of Action” and general strikes similar to those conducted by the labour movement in the late 1990s.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union, representing 38,000 members of the OPS, has been in negotiations with Workers also face serious attacks on sickness plans and benefits, as well as destruction of the frayed safety net for those made “surplus.” If management has its way, termination payments will be eliminated for new hires and so will the “surplus factor 80,” which enables “sur­ plus” members a chance to retire if their combined years of service and age add up to 80. Other attacks include permitting the employer to keep members in con­ tract positions for longer periods, and to make changes to current hiring practices that will fuel nepotism.

OPSEU has rightfully called this pack­ age “completely unacceptable.” It launched a campaign to inform and mo­ bilize its members to fight concessions and achieve a ‘fair contract’. The union is planning a mass protest outside the Ontario Liberal leadership Convention at Maple Leaf Gardens. It is to be held on after seven straight years of record revenues (reaching $3.3 billion last year), it won’t lower ticket prices one penny. It won’t recover the losses of the tens of thou­ sands of workers and small businesses dependent on hockey to make a living. But it will do two things:

It will enable team owners to pad their profits ines­ timably; and it will encourage other capitalists to step ted decades of historic collective bargain­ ing gains. The concessionary 2012 GMCAW collective agreements heightened 2013. The OPSEU Rally for a Better On­ tario, which will be busing union mem­ bers from across Ontario to the site, may attract the participation of other unions.

However, it is occurring on the same day as the Ontario Federation of Labour mass demonstration. The OFL, which repre­ sents 54 unions and over 1 million work­ ers, started organizing a Rally for Rights and Democracy months in advance. It is to begin at 1 p.m. at a park a few blocks east of the convention site.

While it is good to directly confront the governing Liberal Party, which pro­ rogued (suspended) the Legislature and is steadfast in its austerity drive, the bla­ tant dismissal of the OFL’s initiative by OPSEU is sectarian and divisive. Labour needs to maximize unity and solidarity to defeat the bosses’ austerity drive. Union bureaucrats should put their differences aside to defend the working class from the attack launched by the ruling class and its parties, which aim to make work­ ers pay for the capitalist economic crisis. Broad and sustained mass actions are needed, not just token one-day strikes. The urgent task is to generate a fightback that includes collective planning and implementation of an unlimited general strike to force the Ontario Liberal regime to rescind Bill 115, or resign. n up their agenda of greater riches for them, and devas­ tating cuts for the rest of us.

In the 95-year history of the NHL, players have had a union continuously for only 45 years. Before that, they were controlled like slaves. Many retired, and died, without any savings. In recent decades, the players got a bigger portion of their product. Now the owners want to turn back the clock. They demand a reduction of players’ share of revenues. They insist on restricting the length of player contracts, weakening free agency, and putting an end to salary arbitration.

Unions cannot change everything, much less curtail how capitalism distorts the arts, culture, and sport. But when workers in any field get a bigger share of the pie they create, they thwart the employers’ agenda and show the way forward. A victory for the players, and a defeat for NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and the greedy owners, will be a victory for working people and for everyone who loves the game. n * As we go to press, Jan. 6, the NHL and NHL Player’s As­ sociation have reached a tentative agreement. The players made concessions but effectively resisted demands on pen­ sions, salary caps, and salary arbitration.