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On Friday, 55,000 Ontario education workers with CUPE walked off the job in an “illegal” strike. They were joined by OPSEU education workers, who also “illegally” walked off the job. Over 2.1 million students were out of school as school boards were forced to shut down schools.

Pickets lines were up outside Conservative MPP offices and elsewhere in the province. In Toronto, a massive all-day picket line and rally was held at Queen’s Park, which the media estimated reached 10,000 people. But it wasn’t just striking workers; a huge number of parents, students, trade unionists, and other workers showed up. The mood was electric and defiant, and it was clear the fight was much broader than just education workers’ demands.

Their strike has turned into a class-wide fight over fundamental workers’ rights and the right to fight for a better life.

How we got here

Education workers have faced legislated wage suppression for more than a decade–in the form of Bill 115 and Bill 124 from a Liberal and Tory government respectively. During the height of the pandemic, education workers were told they were essential, but their paycheques didn’t reflect that fact. Between 2011 and 2021, they experienced an effective wage cut of over 11 percent. Their average annual wage is $39,000; more than half work a second job (or more) to make ends meet and over 25 percent regularly use a food bank.

With a worsening cost-of-living crisis underway, it was clear there was a strong demand for higher wages and better working conditions as a bargaining approach – something that has deeply resonated with other workers. The union was asking for a $3.25 per hour increase to catch up with inflation. After months of intensive and systematic organizing and literally tens of thousands member-to-member conversations, members gave a resounding mandate by voting over 96.5% to strike, with a turnout of 82.6%. It was this from-below, rank-and-file-focused approach that built a massive movement inside the union, and has made possible such a confident strike so far.

The government played hardball during negotiations, and it has now been revealed they were drafting anti-strike legislation long before negotiations got underway. When they finally came to the table, they offered workers a well-below-inflation wage increase of 1.5 percent (with some getting 2 percent). In the middle of negotiations, the government announced it was taking money out of public education by issuing cheques for $200 to $250 per child to parents to spend on educational services. These so-called “catch-up payments” were an overt attempt to bribe the public and, worse, to accelerate the privatization of public education. All that money could have been used to meet the workers’ demands and dramatically improve students’ learning conditions.

Concessionary contract

After the “no-board” report was issued, November 3 became the earliest possible date the workers could go on strike. Negotiations and mediation were ongoing, but it was clear the government had no intention of bargaining. CUPE was preparing for a strike, holding regional meetings and discussing with their members the potential government response to their strike.

When the OSBCU issued its strike notice on Sunday, triggering a November strike deadline, the government responded within hours declaring that they would introduce legislation that imposed a concessionary contract on education workers and take away their right to strike. While the government claimed it was doing everything in order to keep kids in school, it was doing anything but. The immediate reaction to the news on Sunday was pure fury by education workers and parents.

The following day, when the government introduced Bill 28 (the so-called “Keeping Students in Class Act”), they inserted the notwithstanding clause into the legislation. They knew their legislation was an unprecedented violation of the Charter, but didn’t care. It was meant to add fuel to the fire, by attacking all labour rights, not just education workers.

Solidarity campaign

But their plan appears to have backfired – spectacularly. For the last month, there has been a burgeoning solidarity campaign with education workers, rank-and-file teachers, and decent work activists, led by the Justice for Workers campaign. Education workers themselves have been extremely organized and started reaching out at a rank-and-file level to community members and fellow trade unionists. Their #39KIsNotEnough campaign has energized and organized their members, and inspired the wider public.

Justice for Workers initiated a “Paint the Province Purple” campaign and began to coordinate solidarity days outside schools. Supporters postered schools, tied purple ribbons on fences and street lights, posted solidarity messages online–such as this inspiring video from the Migrant Workers’ Alliance for Change–and engaged parents to sign pledge sheets to support education workers.

Throughout October, these actions were repeated and grew. OSBCU provided leaflets and Justice for Workers “Support Education Workers” posters started to appear across the province. Rank-and-file teachers and parent groups, such as the Ontario Parent Action Network (OPAN), played a key role in building and amplifying these actions, as did the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), Ontario’s central labour body. These actions helped create a network of supporters who were ready and willing to take action to support education workers.

A week of struggle 

So when the Tories introduced Bill 28 and widened the fight, there was already a layer of activists beyond the union’s 55,000 education workers ready to mobilize and build on the months of organizing the workers had done amongst themselves and their education colleagues and in their communities. On Monday, the OFL called an emergency rally in Toronto in response to Bill 28, and over 3,500 people took to the streets in under a day’s notice. This number far exceeded everyone’s expectations, but quickly showed there was a large appetite for action.

On Wednesday, the day after the emergency protest, as Bill 28 was being forced through the legislature, NDP MPPs were tossed out of the legislature for calling Premier Doug Ford a liar. The mood was defiant and helped build the confidence of NDP members and voters to resist the attacks on education workers and workers’ rights. That night, over 500 people joined the Justice for Workers phone zap, making over 2,000 calls to Conservative MPPs.

On Thursday, OPSEU had also announced it would support its education workers walking off the job on Friday. This was a clear message of defiance and a real escalation of the struggle. The evening before the strike, OPAN organized a rally of parents and families who gathered outside a downtown Toronto hotel where bargaining was underway inside. Hundreds of parents and kids showed up, again exceeding organizers’ expectations.

OPAN  has been crucial in helping push back against the narrative that parents are opposed to the education workers strike. By late Thursday, it was clear the mediation had completely collapsed and education workers would be out an “illegal” strike.

Schools boards announced their closures. Ford and Education Minister Lecce’s claim that they would do anything to keep kids in school had completely blown up in their face. The momentum was clearly with education workers and their supporters.

On Friday, education workers walked in defiance of Ford’s law. In Toronto the big picket line at Queen’s Park drew tens of thousands. Education workers put up picket lines right across the province in a stunning show of force. Numbers everywhere far exceeded expectations as education wokers were joined by parents, students, community members and fellow trade unionists.

On Saturday another emergency rally was called by the OFL with just hours notice. It ended up shutting down the main intersection of Yonge and Dundas.

Momentum

The entire week of actions helped build the confidence of people to act and put the Conservatives on their back foot. Early polling has shown broad public support for the education workers. This has steeled those inside the labour movement who wanted to take the fight to the Tories. Unions which had previously supported the Conservatives, like LIUNA, had started to publicly distance themselves. Elementary teachers who were bargaining with the government this week walked away from the table.

Whatever reservations some union leaders have had about publicly supporting education workers, the growing pressure from below, including from their own members who are leading the call for a fight, has pushed them closer to action. An important section of the labour leadership in Ontario – CUPE’s OSBCU, CUPE Ontario, OPSEU, and UNIFOR – have been leading and supporting the fight for education workers, and pushing other unions to to follow them. The massive outpouring of support from their members, other workers, and the wider public has vindicated their principled approach.

Things are moving extremely fast, and could escalate in the coming days. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1587, representing Go Transit workers in the province, rejected their tentative deal by 81 percent and are set to strike on Monday at 12:01am. This strike, motivated by Metrolinx’s contracting out and wages, could turn out to be very disruptive and add to the sense that the Conservatives are a government of chaos. Discussions have been underway in all of CUPE Ontario (not just the education workers) about what they could do to join this fight. If the entire union takes action, it could unleash a massive response from the rest of labour.

For socialists and activists, the key task is to deepen and expand the kind of rank-and-file solidarity across all unions, and among non-union workers and the wider public, that has pushed reluctant leaders into action and that has built support and backing for the progressive, left-wing leaders who were already ready to fight and pushing hard in the labour movement.

The only way out is through

We can only beat Ford, defeat the attack on workers’ rights and ensure workers get what they deserve by escalating the struggle.

If we backtrack, if we slow down our fight or hesitate we are in trouble. The massive “illegal” strike by CUPE education workers and the “illegal” OPSEU education worker walkout have set the stage for a huge fight. ATU’s GO transit strike on Monday will escalate it further.

It’s only a few days into the inspiring strike of education workers, but it looks as if it could grow into a much bigger fight–not just for a fair settlement for those workers–but to repeal Bill 28 and to fight for decent work for all workers in the province. 

Tories are on their back foot. Splits in the Tory party are real, but thus far are only occurring in the backrooms. We need to keep the heat on to crack the party. That means supporting increased worker action, public protests and continuing to building solidarity everywhere. We have to widen the struggle.

We can win this, but we can’t let up even for one second.

Looking back on the year, it is remarkable how quickly the conditions of social struggle change. 

The year started off with the rapid spread of the Omicron variant and the rightwing freedom convoy and ended with Ontario’s education workers forcing Ontario’s Conservatives to beat a hasty retreat.

Convoy to the right  

Much more transmissible and vaccine evasive, the new Omicron variant caused renewed closures of schools, an increase in hospitalizations and a halting of the economic recovery. Workers had to navigate this new variant without access to previous supports.

The new COVID wave crashed over a working class that was exhausted and atomized. The debates over how to handle COVID, through vaccine mandates and lockdowns were coming to a head. The left was divided over the question of mandates and lockdowns, with a majority supporting draconian measures, rather than pushing demands that allowed greater access to benefits and rights, such as paid sick days, that could put workers in position to prioritize safety. The top down approach of mandates and lockdowns opened the door for the far-right to paint themselves as the sole champions of freedom and liberties. 

Ultimately, this culminated in the rightwing’s “Freedom convoy” in January and February. The convoy was led by far-right elements, and ignored the real issues threatening trucking workers–such as wage theft, the exploitation of migrant workers, and health and safety concerns. Instead the convoy pushed the entire political terrain to the right: it not only picked up support from prominent right-wing politicians like Pierre Poilievere,it also  shifted public opinion on vaccine mandates and restrictions. As the convoy protests escalated, even closing several border crossings, the federal government took a drastic step, invoking the Emergencies Act to crack down on the protests. While some on the left supported this, others looked to draw people into actions aimed at building the confidence of people willing to take on the rightwing.

The eventual government crackdown on the convoy protests was quickly followed by provincial governments and the federal government dropping vaccine passport and mandate requirements. The rightwing was in the drivers’ seat. In March, the federal Liberals and the NDP struck a confidence and supply motion to keep the Liberals in power until 2025. The deal, which committed the parties to introduce a piecemeal dentalcare program and pharmacare program and some other minor reforms, was designed simply to provide the NDP and Liberals with a level of stability. The NDP left many important and achievable demands on the sidelines. More importantly, the deal came at the price of allowing the Conservatives to be the main opposition voice going forward.

War, inflation and revolt

The early part of the year was also dominated by the rising cost of living crisis. Inflation, which had been low or moderate for the last 30 years, saw a dramatic escalation at the end of 2021 and through 2022. Capitalism’s supply chain crisis in the wake of the pandemic and the rampant pandemic profiteering had created inflationary conditions. The labour market started to recover to its pre-pandemic levels, but workers started to feel the pinch of high energy and food prices. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in March only accelerated the cost of living crisis.

The Russian war on Ukraine has developed into a brutal war of attrition. Governments in the U.S., UK, Canada and Western Europe are only too happy to fight to the last Ukrainian, pouring billions of dollars of arms into the region. The war in the Ukraine has not only created an energy crisis in Europe, it has highlighted the deep political and economic instability that exists in the world today. Great power conflicts between the United States, Russia and China are an ever present threat and shape regional conflicts.  

The fight for Palestinian liberation in 2022, which saw worldwide protests in 2021, struggled through one of the deadliest years of Israeli repression. In Iran, the largest sustained protest movement since 1979 challenged systemic oppression and the Iranian ruling class. Workers and students from across the country are taking action and there is ever indication that it will only continue.  

The economic crisis and political instability in the wake of the pandemic stem from the contradictions of how capitalism has addressed the crisis. To conquer high inflation – which was the product of supply chain problems, war, climate events and the whipsaw of the global recovery – the ruling class have chosen to depress economic activity by raising the cost of borrowing. The cheap money spigot from central banks that capitalism has relied on since the 2008 crash was turned off. Interest rates were raised in the hopes economic activity would slow down, workers would lose their jobs and depress prices. This is a strategy aimed at making workers pay for the cost of living crisis, despite the fact that the growth of workers’ wages are lagging well behind inflation rates. 

The cost of living crisis has hit workers hard in Canada and it has hit workers in poorer nations even harder. The way in which the international finance system operates punishes poorer nations the most when the cost of borrowing goes up. Countries such as Argentina, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Lebanon, and Pakistan are struggling through debt crises. In these conditions it was not a surprise to see a wave of popular protest in countries like Sri Lanka, Haiti, Argentina and Iran. 

In richer nations, or nations that are temporarily benefiting from higher resource prices, the class divisions have grown more stark. In Europe, workers are struggling through high energy prices and inflation is running rampant.  

While in China, the red hot housing market, which produced a glut of homes, declined in 2022, wiping out $1.3 trillion in wealth and countless jobs in the sector. The collapse in the property sector sparked wide scale mortgage boycott and protests. Omicron also hit China hard, straining China’s zero-Covid policy. Stringent and extensive lockdowns were imposed to deal with the frequent outbreaks of the Omicron variant. These were not only deeply unpopular, sparking a wave of protests in the fall (the catalyst being an apartment fire), but they also were hitting the Chinese economy. In response the Chinese government did a dramatic U-Turn dropping its zero-Covid policy. The abruptness of this policy change, and the underlying conditions in China – a relative low vaccine uptake – could see COVID run wild with deadly consequences. 

From apathy to action         

Social movement struggles from the previous two years were on the wane. Public services were strained, workers were confronting an economic recovery that was halting and a cost of living crisis that was getting worse. The rightwing, not the left, was shaping the political response. It was no wonder that elections in Ontario and Quebec saw rightwing victories. In Quebec voter turnout was the second lowest in the province’s history, while Ontario’s election saw an historic low 43 percent voter turnout. These elections weren’t endorsements of the right, rather the rightwing was able to capitalize on the demoralization and isolation felt by most workers. Elections and provincial parliament are far removed from people’s everyday experiences. It was unsurprising that many voters checked out of elections in which the rightwing had been long predicted to win.

But apathy with official party politics did not mean apathy over economic struggle. The pinch of rising prices has pushed workers into action, both in the private and public sector. The total number of person days lost to strikes or lockouts was the highest number in 12 years. Most of this activity occurred in the private sector. Big strikes in the private sector, like the Ontario carpenters strike involving 15,000 workers in May, were animated by rank and file anger over wages in relation to inflation. While the total number of strikes and the numbers participating in strikes is nowhere near pre-2008 levels, there was a noticeable uptick in industrial action especially in the private sector. While fewer public sector unions went on strike, the big Ontario education workers strike showed the power and potential of working class militancy like no other action this year.

Education workers strike back 

Between 2011 and 2021, education workers in Ontario – basically workers who aren’t teachers or principals in schools –  experienced an effective wage cut of over 11 percent. Their average annual wage is $39,000. More than half of Ontario’s education workers are forced to work a second job (or more) to make ends meet and over 25 percent regularly use a food bank.

With a worsening cost-of-living crisis underway, the 55,000 education workers in Ontario represented by CUPE  put forward a demand for higher wages and better working conditions as a bargaining approach — a strategy that deeply resonated with other workers. The union was asking for a $3.25 per-hour increase to catch up with inflation and close the gap between the highest and lowest paid. After months of intensive and systematic organizing and tens of thousands of member-to-member conversations, members gave a resounding mandate by voting over 96.5 percent to strike, with a turnout of 82.6 percent. 

The workers were not alone. The Justice for Workers campaign led a solidarity campaign to “Paint the Province Purple” weeks before a potential strike – tapping into networks built around the May 1 day of action earlier in the year. The campaign focused on decorating local schools purple in solidarity, postering, signing people up at schools and communities to pledge to support the workers. It made solidarity visible, easy, and everywhere and created a network of activists who were ready to mobilize if and when a strike occurred. 

When the government introduced Bill 28, a draconian piece of legislation which took away workers’ right to strike and imposed a contract, education workers and their supporters were ready to fight. A week of escalating protests culminated in an “illegal” strike by CUPE education workers, who were joined in a wildcat strike by OPSEU education workers. The labour movement was on the move, with labour leaders set to call an unlimited general strike. The government was forced to back down and repeal Bill 28. Workers didn’t get everything they could have, but it was a huge victory that showed the power and transformative potential of mass action. Remember, just five months earlier the Conservatives were elected in the lowest voter turnout election in Ontario’s history.  

Remembering the lessons of 2022

Workers are still facing a cost of living crisis and our public services are still in dire straits. The education workers’ fight contains many important lessons about how we not only have to organize in our workplace, but how we have to organize as a class. This is why the Justice for Workers campaign is so vital: it unites union and non-union workers and pushes to raise the floor of workplace standards through on the ground organizing. This was the year that workers through campaigning won 10 paid sick days at the federal level. Likewise, one of the most inspiring and effective campaigns this year has been the Status for All campaign. Through mass activity, the Migrant Rights Network, a network of migrant rights organizations across the country, is pushing the government to regularize 1.2 million migrants. This would be an historic win for the entire working class. Through regularization of their status, migrants would be able to access healthcare and more easily stand up for their rights in the workplace.

The global geopolitical and economic situation remains deeply unstable. Workers are still facing massive challenges as governments at all levels aim to address inflation by increasing unemployment. Public services right across the country are in crisis. Where gains have been made, such as in childcare, there is a real danger that they will be systematically undermined. Whatever willingness governments had to spend their way out of the crisis in 2020 has evaporated. There is the danger that in these conditions the newly elected Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre will take the lead in shaping an alternative. But there are also openings for the left. In Quebec, the big public sector unions are gearing up for bargaining. The Ontario education workers fight not only has inspired other workers in Ontario – spurred on by the court ruling against the wage suppression in Bill 124 – but has inspired workers across Canada. 

The year ahead will see a stark choice about who pays for the current crisis and opportunities for our side to shape the response. The lessons of 2022 is that change can be imposed from above or can be inspired from below. Do we face pandemics through imposing state restrictions or expanding workers rights? Do we deal with repressive regimes through NATO bombs from above like in conflict with Russia over Ukraine, or through a revolution from below like in Iran? Do we challenge Doug Ford by waiting until the next election, or by organizing in our workplaces and communities? 

The socialist left remains very weak. Our ability to offer an alternative in the present crisis is limited. But that doesn’t mean that socialists are powerless to influence the direction of struggle. Working within campaigns and movements, organized socialists with a politics that aims to widen those struggles to challenge oppression and the bosses – can be effective and important catalysts in initiating and building those struggles. Perhaps more importantly they can be a mechanism to link struggles, transmit their lessons and be a place where organizers collectively build their politics. The left cannot afford to remain mired in a crisis and response dynamic. We need to build movements and build our organized capacity in the here and now. Socialists must organize together in a way that both levels up our political understanding of the world and our capacity to fight effectively based on those ideas. Putting socialist ideas in action is our best bet as we navigate a world in crisis in 2023.

The Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) reported on March 3, that contract talks with the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) have broken down. Negotiations began in January and mediation began the week of February 27 for a contract that would impact roughly 60,000 nurses across the province. 

The key issues facing nurses, and public health care in Ontario, is the incredible levels of understaffing. Ontario is desperately in need of 25,000 registered nurses (RN) to meet demand for health care services. This is the worst shortage in Canada and nurses say it is a direct result of the Doug Ford government’s Bill 124, which capped wage increases for public employees at one percent for three years. 

On November 29, an Ontario court found Bill 124 to be unconstitutional, infringing on public sector workers’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Nevertheless, Ford government has appealed the court’s decision and has publicly defended the legislation, insisting that it was necessary, despite internal government documents citing Bill 124 as a contributing factor to the healthcare staffing shortages. 

While Doug Ford has publicly admitted that there is a crisis in healthcare and even stated, “we are in need of more nurses, as many as we can get,” his government’s response has been to hard bargain the nurses, failing to come to the table with an offer that addresses the rising cost of living and the wage suppression of the last three years. 

Another “solution” on offer from Ford’s Conservative government is to give public money to private clinics through the Your Health Act. The Act aims to address the surgical backlog and wait times by using private clinics to deliver surgeries and diagnostic imaging. However, nurses point out that this will likely increase the drain on the public health system, as public nurses may leave to work in an expanding private system. Private clinics will only take only the easiest patients, leaving the most challenging and time-consuming procedures to the already taxed public system. 

A fight for public services in Ontario

Upon taking office, Doug Ford eliminated the paid sick days that workers won in Bill 148, wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting public sector workers in court, budgeted less than inflation increases for healthcare and has hoarded billions meant for public services. 

Based on his government’s close relationship with lobbyists, Ford’s long-term plan for healthcare includes finding “efficiencies” in staffing, introducing private virtual care, private health testing, private clinics and even potentially introducing “Uber-style app” for healthcare staffing. This should scare all public sector workers and people who use public services in Ontario. “Finding efficiencies,” cutting budgets and lowering wages and benefits will make public sector work harder and more dangerous and will make public service delivery worse. 

This is why a victory for nurses is so important. The priorities of the Ford government are on full display in this contract negotiation: faced with an obvious crisis in hospitals, Ford and his Conservative MPs would rather fund private clinics, and deliver the worst patient ratios in the country than listen to frontline workers who are demanding better pay to retain and recruit more nurses. What kind of Ontario do we want? One with strong public services or one where privatization and tax cuts for corporations are the norm? 

Whatever we do, or fail to do, to support nurses will affect the outcome of the nurses struggle–and every other struggle that follows. As trade unionists and decent work activists, we have a responsibility to back those workers who are fighting and help them win. And if they win, workers everywhere will be more confident to take similar steps–strikes and other workplace-based actions–to fight for good jobs and decent wages, and take on Ford’s agenda.

Solidarity

This comes at a time when the right wing is trying to divide our movement by blaming migrants. The federal Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre and Quebec Premier Francois Legault, have been engaging in a public campaign of fear and disinformation around refugees crossing into Quebec at Roxham Road, insisting that they are “pushing social services to their limits.” The Migrant Rights Network, a cross-Canada alliance of migrants rights organizations, which has been pushing for full regularization and permanent residency for all migrants, has provided a powerful response to the manufactured crisis: 

“Where workers are fighting collectively, wages are increasing. At the same time, many of us are angry because corporations are getting rich while the rest of us are struggling to pay the bills. In times like these, racism and anti-immigrant hysteria is a strategy of the rich to distract us and divide us, and it has deadly consequences. Once again, we must act firmly, and unite against racism.”

They point out that the people who have crossed Roxham Road in 2022 made up only 3% of the 1.2 million temporary residents that came in that year, 60% were granted refugee status, and point to the chronic underfunding of social services as the real source of strain on the system. Again, this is a manufactured crisis meant to break solidarity and scapegoat migrants for the healthcare crisis. 

Resisting this racist division and uniting for good work and safe conditions for all workers and migrants will strengthen the fight against exploitation. An injury to one is an injury to all, that means nurses and migrants. United we fight and when we unite to fight we can win. 

How can we win? 

For socialists, rank-and-file activists, and decent work campaigners, there are some immediate actions we need to take. If we want the nurses to win we have to build solidarity actively, and understand the purpose of it: to build the confidence of workers to take action themselves.

Think of the “Paint the Province Purple” campaign initiated by Justice For Workers during the education worker bargaining. We engaged in easy, highly visible actions wherever we were; putting up posters at schools, getting parents to sign solidarity statements, leafleting at bus stops, joining pickets and protests and phone banking to get others involved. These sort of solidarity actions helped stitch together networks of activists across the province who were armed with clear politics, confident to arguments in favour of education workers with their coworkers, neighbours, in the letters section of local newspapers, at their union meetings and elsewhere. This helped bolster the confidence of the education workers who were taking on a government intent on criminalizing their rights. 

This can and must be done in support of nurses. Their fight is a fight for the soul of public services in Ontario and by increasing their confidence to fight and win, we increase positive outcomes for the workers movement in Ontario. Now is the time to do what you can to build solidarity. 

On Sunday, the Ontario School Board Council of Unions, representing 55,000 education workers in Ontario, issued their notice to strike on November 4. Hours later, Stephen Lecce, Ontario’s Minister of Education, announced that the Conservative government would introduce legislation to preemptively take away education workers’ right to strike. 

The legislation, the Keeping Students in Schools Act, introduced on Monday afternoon, would not only remove the education workers’ legal right to strike, it would impose a concessionary collective agreement on education workers. The Ford government is attacking not just the collective bargaining rights of education workers. They are attacking the rights of all workers.

The government is going to extreme lengths to attack the basic democratic right of free and fair collective bargaining.

The concessionary deal

The OSBCU has been very transparent in their bargaining demands, asking for a $3.25 an hour raise for its workers. The government negotiators walked out of bargaining and gave an offer they deemed “very generous,” which included the equivalent of a $0.40 to $0.67 raise, insufficient funding to sustain the benefits plan, a massive cut to sick leave/long term disability, no prep time for classroom workers, and decreased job security language. The contract Lecce will attempt to impose today raises the take-home hourly wage of an education worker making $43,000 a year by about 17 pennies an hour.

This deal would only make the existing problems facing our public education system worse. Understaffing and burnout of education workers that is already hitting our schools would only become more widespread. Since 2018, Ford’s Conservatives have cut funding for schools by $800 per student – the cuts totalled $1.6 billion in 2021-2022. 

The direct cash payments to parents, the so-called catch-up payments, was a crass attempt by the government to win over parents during bargaining. It should have been money going into our public schools, not being taken out of them. In fact the money going to parents was framed as a way for parents to spend that money on private education services, which many have pointed to as part of a Ford strategy to slowly privatize education in Ontario. Thus it was no surprise to see the Halton District School Board send out a strike plan to parents which included keeping schools open with contracted out cleaning services. 

The attack on education workers and the underfunding of our public schools by this government will negatively impact students and parents.  

Legislating poor working conditions 

In September 2012, Ontario’s Liberal government passed draconian legislation called the Putting Students First Act (also referred to as Bill 115). Bill 115 imposed a collective agreement on education workers across the province. The act froze workers’ pay, eliminated sick pay and sick pay banks and removed the legal right to engage in full strike activity.

Teachers and other education unions challenged Bill 115 at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. They argued that Bill 115 interfered with collective bargaining between unions and school boards and, as a result, violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

In 2016, Justice Thomas R. Lederer of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice agreed with the unions, and determined that Bill 115 interfered with the unions’ collective bargaining rights contrary to Section 2(d) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The government was ordered to pay out damages of hundreds of millions of dollars to the affected workers, but this remedy won’t make up for the wages and benefits lost. 

In 2019, the Ford government introduced and passed Bill 124, wage-suppression legislation that limits wage increases to a maximum of one percent total compensation for each of three years. The bill has had disastrous effects in the health care sector, where workers are barred from striking and have been forced to accept contracts from arbitrators bound by the Bill. 

There is a gender-discrimination aspect of the Bill which has been used against health care and education workers, while the male-dominated firefighters and police officers are exempt. The Ontario Nurses Association and other unions have launched a Charter challenge that is working its way slowly through the courts. 

The right to strike and defying

According to the Canadian Foundation for Labour Rights (CFLR), since 1982 federal and provincial governments in Canada passed more than 200 pieces of legislation that have limited, suspended or denied collective bargaining rights. This is a major attack on democracy and freedom and puts a downward pressure on wages and working conditions across society.  

The government knows that its legislation is a blatant breach of the Charter, thus they are invoking the Notwithstanding Clause to get around the unconstitutionality of the legislation. This is the third time the government has used the Notwithstanding Clause.

When bosses feel confident that they can get legislation to end strikes, there is no pressure for them to fairly negotiate with their employees. The threat of fines and punishment for the right to withhold labour means their is no force to counter the offensive from employers. When government’s can unilaterally impose contracts on public sector workers, there is no incentive to bargain in good faith.

However, it bears repeating that there is no such thing as illegal strikes, only unsuccessful ones. Anti-strike legislation can be defied but it requires workers to act confidently and collectively and expand the fight outside their own members. 

How we can fight back 

After the Ford government introduced the Keeping Students in Schools Act, CUPE announced education workers would organize a mass walkout on Friday in defiance of the legislation. This is a bold move by education workers in the fight for better working conditions. Workers risk fines and firings and union leaders risk jail. 

There is much at stake and not just for education workers. This strike is about the working conditions of education workers, but it is also about the future of our public education system and upholding basic democratic rights to collectively bargain and to strike.

For workers to defy and win, it means causing a political crisis for the Conservatives centred around the cost of living and the future of Ontario’s schools and public services. This will require massive unity on the picket lines and in our communities. 

Events are moving fast. If education workers are to succeed in their fight it will require a massive fight back from all unions and community members. Parents groups should be discussing the issues facing students and what we need to make public education decent for all students. It means passing motions of support in union locals, pressuring your local MPPs, discussing the issues and how to show support in your parent groups, and providing visible solidarity with education workers – painting the province purple. 

There are a couple of key actions already outlined that we should be building. The first is the OFL emergency rally in defence of workers’ rights on Tuesday, November 1 at 5pm. The second is the Justice for Workers emergency phone zap for education workers on Wednesday, November 2 at 7pm. There will be more actions called and we should seize upon each every opportunity to widen the struggle.     

This moment is key for the entire labour movement. Whatever industry you are in, the fight for education workers’ right to bargain and strike is essential to stopping the decades long rollbacks to worker wages and working conditions. We need workers’ power to defend and build the public services we want.

Last week, education workers in Ontario gave their union leadership a massive strike vote mandate. Over 45,000 out of the 55,000 members of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU) voted 96.5% in favour of striking if the current round of collective bargaining fails. All signs indicate that the Ford government is looking to cut and privatize where they can, so this historic strike vote is a huge step forward in the battle over the soul of Ontario’s public services.

The strike vote is an indicator of the anger at the Ford government, which has been very publicly bargaining with bad intentions throughout the summer. The difficulty for education workers to eke out a living with low salaries and a rising cost of living has motivated an overwhelming majority to say “enough is enough.” Over the last decade, education workers in Ontario saw their wages cut in real terms by more than 11 percent via legislated wage freezes and restrictions on wage increases brought in by successive Liberal and Conservative governments. The campaign launched by OSBCU called #39kIsNotEnough emphasizes the important work done by a workforce that earns an average salary of $39,000 a year.

The anger and the strong strike mandate bode well for education workers, but there are some serious obstacles that must be addressed for education workers to win. Overcoming these obstacles could mean more than a win for education workers; it could help stop Ford’s privatization agenda.

A legislative attack on workers

When public sector workers go on strike, the threat of back-to-work legislation looms large. In recent years, we have seen back-to-work legislation used against workers at Canada Post in 2018 and Ontario teachers in 2015. Governments have declared workers as “essential services” to prevent strikes in public transit and healthcare, and court injunctions against picket lines are frequently used to undermine the effectiveness of strikes.

The Conservatives could use their legislative powers to prevent a legal strike or order workers back to work while they are on strike. Ford has even hinted that his government may take such steps, by telling education workers ‘not to force his hand.’

Back-to-work legislation undermines the right to free collective bargaining. The threat of fines and punishment for the right to withhold labour means the government, which is the employer, has the means and motive to avoid fairly negotiating with workers.

The prospect of a legislative attack on collective bargaining raises the question of how workers should respond. To allow the continued assault on collective bargaining rights simply means furthering the erosion of those rights and the weakening of workplace standards for all. If unionized workers can’t defend their own rights, how can workers anywhere advance?

But it is not a matter of simply defying back-to-work legislation, it is about defying it in a way that has a chance to win. As labour activists have long claimed, “there is no such thing as an illegal strike, only an unsuccessful one.” The potential risk of defying back-to-work legislation is serious. Teachers first won the right to strike by walking out of class at the same time across the province, despite the government declaring it illegal. Fines won’t matter if workers are united and determined to stay out until their demands are met.

To defy and win means causing a political crisis for the Conservatives centred around the cost of living and the future of Ontario’s schools in order to force them to back down. This will require massive unity on the picket lines and in our communities. It means all education unions, the entire labour movement, parents, and community members standing shoulder to shoulder in opposition to the Conservatives.

The huge vote for a legal strike is a good start, but to defy back-to-work legislation will require ongoing democracy and solidarity beyond CUPE’s membership.

Building solidarity amongst teachers

Building solidarity and action amongst teachers will be crucial to winning. Teachers see the work that CUPE members do. They know that classes would be even better with education workers not having to take second jobs. Teachers’ working conditions and students’ learning conditions will be improved if CUPE education workers win. As well, whatever happens in bargaining with education workers will impact teacher negotiations. If CUPE workers are defeated and demoralized, the government will feel confident to squash teacher concerns at the bargaining table.

Concerned teachers and education workers should be making the case right now to co-workers, parents, and community members that the fate of our schools is tied up with achieving positive outcomes for CUPE members. This raises the question of what teachers can do to respect CUPE picket lines. Now is the time to prepare for a potential strike. To pass solidarity pacts and start discussions about honouring picket lines. Schools cannot run safely without the work of CUPE members, nor can classes simply transfer online (IT workers in schools are CUPE members).

Building solidarity in the labour movement 

This moment is key for the entire labour movement. Whatever industry you are in, the fight for education workers to make a decent living in the midst of massive inflation and while facing a hostile government is a challenge to workers across the province. If education workers win big, it bodes well for workers bargaining for more. If education workers are crushed, a tone will be set for bargaining across the public sector and will reverberate in the private sector as well.

Now is the time to pass motions of support in union locals, prepare to donate to strike funds, and brainstorm collective alternatives of childcare. Solidarity efforts have already begun, such as this call to decorate our local schools with purple ribbon and solidarity posters. Building on these efforts as best we can should be everyone’s next step.

We need to show solidarity in the face of a Conservative government hell-bent on dividing workers and our communities. All workers will feel emboldened if we can collectively push back against public service cuts, poverty wages, and threats to collective bargaining. To give education workers the confidence to potentially defy back-to-work legislation, it will take all of us.

A political crisis for the Tories 

Since coming to office, Ford’s Conservatives have attacked workers and public services, weakened and roll backed regulations, mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic, and purposefully underfunded healthcare and education—all while fighting for the interests of big business.

The Conservatives are vulnerable. The 2022 provincial election, which returned the Conservatives to government with another majority, saw a record low 43% voter turnout. Only 17% of the electorate voted for the Conservatives. To win the plurality of those who did vote, Ford’s Conservatives moderated their message, promising they were  “working for workers” and were going to improve public services.

As we face a cost-of-living crisis and an impending recession, there is popular support for increasing workers’ wages and having stronger public services. While this sentiment exists, it needs to be organized and directed into action for it to have an impact.

That means we need to move quickly to make the case to parents and other workers that supporting education workers and their demands for better wages and working conditions is necessary if we want to see an education system that works for all. A strong and visible show of support for education workers can create a political crisis, even for a majority Conservative government, and win a better future for Ontario’s children and all public services in the province.