The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.46           December 29, 1997 
 
 
Ontario Unions Discuss Response To Gov't Austerity Plan  

BY JOHN STEELE
TORONTO - The more than 2,300 delegates attending the November 24 - 28 convention of the Ontario Federation of Labor (OFL) voted overwhelmingly to organize a one-day provincial walkout sometime next year to protest the austerity and anti- union drive of the Ontario government, headed by Conservative premier Michael Harris. The convention came two weeks after 126,000 teachers waged a 14-day, province-wide political strike against impending legislation, known as Bill 160, designed to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from public education in Ontario and lay off up to 10,000 teachers.

Some OFL delegates argued for an earlier action. "We can't squander an opportunity for decisive action," said a delegate from the Ontario Public Service Employees union.

"A one-year time line, I'm afraid, will be a recipe for inaction," stated John Cartwright of the Carpenters and Allied Workers.

The plan adopted by the delegates, representing OFL affiliates with 650,000 members, also included organizing more city-wide strikes and protests. There have been nine such actions across the province over the past two years. The convention also called for a renewed effort to build support for the union-based, social democratic New Democratic Party in preparation for provincial elections, expected in one to two years.

The delegates adopted an emergency resolution declaring support for the national strike of 45,000 members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, which was in its second week. During a lunch-hour break delegates joined about 2,000 postal workers from Toronto and surrounding areas in a downtown march to Canada Post offices. Signs carried by the strikers read: "Increased workload = Increased injuries"; "Keep Canada Post a public corporation - no privatization"; and "Full time - not part time jobs." The federal government was threatening to pass strike-breaking legislation, and did so December 2. The postal workers returned to work a few days later.

About 200 meatpackers - members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1227 - on strike against Maple Leaf Foods, came to the convention from their picket lines in Burlington and Hamilton. They were given a standing ovation by the delegates, who voted to support a Canada-wide boycott against the company. Currently, about 2,300 Maple Leaf workers are locked out or on strike against the giant hog processor in four cities across the country. The strikers and convention delegates also marched through downtown Toronto.

"We have no choice but to strike. What are you going to do when they try to cut your wages by $9," said Leena, one of the strikers, who gave only her first name.

Maple Leaf "refuses to pay prices the farmers want," said striker Randy Morely, "But they have to make a living too."

Many delegates wore buttons inscribed with the name "Dudley" and the slogan "Support a public inquiry!" Three months after after the Harris government was elected in 1995, Ontario provincial cops shot and killed Native activist Dudley George during an armed raid against a peaceful land occupation by the Stoney Point people, who are fighting for government recognition of a Native burial ground near Sarnia, Ontario. The OFL delegates declared their support for the continuing struggle of the George family and Stoney Point band to win a public inquiry into Harris's role in the cops' decision to carry out the assault.

Towards the end of the convention delegates also marched to the Provincial legislature at Queen's Park, where the members of the legislature were debating Bill 160. Despite the continuing demonstrations and protests by the teachers' unions, parents, and student organizations, the misnamed Education Quality Improvement Act was passed into law December 1.

Most delegates viewed the fight of the teachers and the OFL as a fight against the "right-wing corporate agenda" of the Harris government. The Liberal government in Ottawa was also condemned in the same vein. A central theme promoted by the union officialdom and taken up by many of the delegates was the so-called "Americanization" of Canada. They defined this as the privatization of health care and education and government attacks on unions as a consequence of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

David Orchard, author of the chauvinist book "The Fight for Canada: Four Centuries Resistance to American Expansionism," addressed the convention on the question of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment being promoted by Washington, Ottawa, and other imperialist powers. He claimed that trade deals like NAFTA and the MAI threaten "Canadian sovereignty," and pose the "dissolution" of the border between Canada and the United States, and the "Canadian way of life." The convention adopted a resolution demanding that Ottawa oppose the MAI.

A good deal of the convention agenda was taken up with campaigning for candidates for OFL president. The campaign reflected divisions in the union officialdom stemming from the "social contract" imposed on government workers in 1993 by the previous Ontario NDP government. The "social contract" tore up union contracts and imposed wage cuts and layoffs on government workers in a deficit-cutting drive.

OFL staffer and United Steelworkers (USWA) member Wayne Samuelson, ran for the office with the backing of the International Association of Machinists, United Food and Commercial Workers, USWA, and Ontario Public Service Employees union officialdoms. Canadian Auto Workers member-staffer Paul Forder ran against Samuelson presenting himself as the main staffer in the Days of Action campaign, which brought thousands of unionists into the streets against Ottawa's austerity drive. Samuelson won the election by a little more than 200 votes.

John Steele is a member of International Association of Machinists Local 2113. Mick McDonald contributed to this article.  
 
 
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