Sid Ryan: Victim of a bureaucratic coup
2015Julius Arscott 2015-10Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 10 →
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10 SOCIALIST ACTION OCTOBER 2015 The president of the Ontario Federa tion of Labour announced on Sept. 22 that he would not seek re-election af ter three terms in office. Sid Ryan, 63, is considered by many to be the most progressive leader of the Ontario House of Labour in generations. His legacy includes: active international solidarity, a willingness to speak di rectly to rank-and-file members over the heads of the affiliated unions, and mobilizing tens of thousands of work ers for labour solidarity rallies across the province.
He was openly critical of the right ward drift of the Ontario New Demo cratic Party under Andrea Horwath. While he toned down support for the labour-based NDP in the June 2014 Ontario provincial election, he rallied the labour movement to defeat the unionhating Conservative Party leader Tim Hudak.
In a CBC radio interview, Ryan stated that he believes there is general agree ment on the necessary direction for the labour movement, but that certain labour partners would not work with him per sonally. The truth is that there is no con sensus across the labour bureaucracy on policy or action. While much of the “turf war” occurring amongst the bureaucracy appears superficial and personality-cen tred, it is clear that there are major dif ferences over how to oppose austerity at home and how to approach international working class solidarity.
Sid Ryan openly criticised the leader of the Ontario NDP, while other unions such as the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union supported her shift to the right. Ryan is a vocal supporter of a Free Pal estine, and the boycott of Zionist apart heid. He denounced police violence and racism. He is critical of capitalism, and argued for a stronger fight back against capitalist austerity by labour unions and the NDP.
These are issues in which very few la bour leaders participate today. And that is why a number of labour bureaucrats have sought to undermine and remove Sid Ryan since day one of his presidency at the OFL. He was the victim of a bureau cratic coup from the right. Socialists were correct to defend him, and to work with him whenever there was a convergence of views, which was often. Ryan says he will continue to be active in the House of Labour, and that’s good.
What is clear from this experience is that the change needed to effec tively fight austerity, two-tier pay, the wage freeze, erosion of pensions and health benefits, racism, environmen tal destruction, and capitalism in gen eral, cannot occur simply by replacing “mis-leaders.” Workers need to take concrete steps to build a class strug gle, left-wing caucus in every union to challenge the labour leadership from the bottom up.
The OFL, and all unions, should fo cus on how to defend workers from continuing austerity. Take the example of education workers. Leaders of public secondary school teachers, Catholic, and French school board teachers reached bad deals with the Ontario government. They left the largest teachers’ union, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of On tario, as well as education sector work ers represented by CUPE Ontario, to fight alone against the bosses’ regressive demands. Unions should coordinate and work together in order to defend one an other. In unity there is strength.
Unions are made up of two parts. The labour bureaucracy and the rank-and-file membership. These two are separated by the material benefits that accrue to the bureaucracy. Perks and privileges tend to change the perception of fulltime union leaders. They come to see things closer to the point of view of the boss class, and farther from the outlook of their working-class membership. Not all leaders are the same; there can be sig nificant differences. Still, we should not rely on the bureaucracy, but seek to con tinuously challenge and to replace them when necessary and possible.
The Workers’ Action Movement (www. workersactionmovement.com) is one at tempt to challenge the status quo. WAM is a positive force for change, inside and outside the ranks of organized la bour—one that is determined to break the hold of capitalist austerity and to end the downward spiral of concessions bargaining. We are working to establish a cross-union, class-struggle caucus that is anti-capitalist, anti-austerity, anti-con cessions, and pro-union democracy.
We believe workers should strive for change based on policies, not on person alities; to replace misleaders on political grounds; to affirm union democratic prin ciples from the bottom up; and to build an independent, class-struggle movement from below that is inclusive, transparent and accountable.
We seek to change the overall direction of our unions, and to support union ac tivists who battle concessions and antidemocratic practices in unions. We aim to work with those who engage with social justice movements, and we welcome all workers and activists from those move ments. WAM will host an open forum at the OFL Convention, Nov. 23-27, at To ronto’s SheratonCentre. n