The sell-out of Ontario’s Public Service Workers

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By Y. FIKRET KAYALI In 2014, the Ontario Public Service (OPS) bosses first announced regres­ sive changes to post-retirement ben­ efits, such as vision care, medical pre­ scriptions, and dental care. The unions objected to this. The employer stepped back, just a little. But the end result is still very bad—especially for future generations.

Under the new conditions, retirees will have partial or total coverage re­ ductions for vision care, orthopaedic shoes, wheelchair and ambulance ser­ vices, dentures, and private-duty nurs­ ing.

Workers hired after Dec. 31, 2016, will be eligible only for an inferior ben­ efits plan when they retire. And those workers will have to pay 100 per cent of the premiums. The employer labels this vicious scheme the “Retiree Focused Plan.” In reality, it’s a two-tier system that sells out future generations.

“Our union did not fight this deal as much as they should have,” said Julius Arscott, an Ontario Public Service Em­ ployees Union (OPSEU) activist and Socialist Action member. “OPSEU lead­ ership did not include the restoration of post-retirement benefits in the last negotiations for our collective agree­ ment. This would have helped galvanize the membership to get a better deal all around, instead of the concessionary two-tier deal we got.”

The two-tier system of wages and benefits is spreading like a plague in Canada, across public and private sec­ tors alike. In some workplaces, there are even three-tier wage and benefit structures. This not only worsens gen­ erational inequalities; it undermines workers’ solidarity.

Recently, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) successfully fought against two-tier wage and benefit plans.

They preserved the gains of previous generations of workers, for the future generations. OPS workers should fol­ low postal workers’ example. As CUPW president Mike Palecek says, there are only two rules in the labour movement: Rule #1: You don’t get anything unless you fight for it.

Rule #2: You don’t get to keep any­ thing unless you keep fighting. n Y. Fikret Kayali is a member of the As­ sociation of Management, Administra­ tive and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario (AMAPCEO) and a leading member of Socialist Action.

Sadly, we must report the death of David Mackay (formerly David Carrell) on Feb. 15 at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. He had been in a coma for some time.

Dave was a revolutionary socialist in his youth and all his adult life. In the late 1960s, he was an active member of the Young Social­ ists and the League for Socialist Action. Dur­ ing this period, he took part in the significant student protest movement at Simon Fraser University (SFU). He was one of the celebrat­ ed “SFU 114,” students who were charged, convicted and faced fines at the insistence of the university administration.

Dave was probably best known for his de­ cades of militant activism in the post office. He was fired five times by management for his efforts and fought successfully, with the backing of his union, CUPW, for reinstate­ ment. Unfortunately, the sixth time around, the post office bosses got their way.

In the 1990s, Dave and his partner Danny lived in Toronto. Dave became an active member of Socialist Action. Some time after they returned to Vancouver, Danny tragically died by suicide. Many of his friends feel that Dave was never able to really get over this horrendous experience and the hole left in his life.

Some of us who knew Dave well realized that he had mental health problems, which he was never able to deal with, and which got worse with age. Danny’s death added heavily to these difficulties.

Despite all this, Dave never gave up on the struggle for a socialist future, and his ex­ ample in this respect strengthens us. Nor will we forget enjoying him as a great story teller; witty, knowledgeable and humorous. RIP, comrade. n

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In memoriam: David MacKay (1947-2017)