July 23, 2013 - Vol 2, No. 45

Workers Affirm Their Rights in August 1st By-Elections

No to the Liberal and PC Austerity Agenda!
Make Every Vote Count!

Workers Affirm Their Rights in August 1st By-Elections
• No to the Liberal and PC Austerity Agenda! Make Every Vote Count! - Rob Woodhouse
• Public Service Alliance of Canada Calls on Members to Defeat Liberals and PCs
• Windsor-Tecumseh
• London West
• Etobicoke-Lakeshore and Scarborough-Guildwood

Health Care Is a Right!
• Vote Against Austerity in Health Care!

Concerns of the Working People
• U.S. Steel's Underhanded Attempt to Mislead Workers and Destroy their Union
• Migrant Farm Workers Demand Justice
• Unemployment and Economic Stagnation - Jim Nugent

For Your Information
• By-Election Candidates and Parties

Workers Affirm Their Rights in August 1st By-Elections

No to the Liberal and PC Austerity Agenda!
Make Every Vote Count!

- Rob Woodhouse -

Workers are using the by-elections as an opportunity to take a stand against the attacks of the Liberals and Conservatives on workers' rights and the austerity being pushed by these parties.

The stand of the working people is not based on giving up their political demands or their conscience in the by-elections. On the contrary, they are working to unite everyone around a practical program to give expression to the demands of the working people. By sending a message that attacking workers' rights and public services to satisfy the demands of the rich is not acceptable, they are affirming their conscience. Which political party people support or are members of is not being made an issue. Everyone, regardless of  political affiliation, is called on to take a stand to hold governments to account for attacks on workers' rights, public services and unions.

In recent days, for example, the Greater Toronto Area Council of the Ontario Public Service Employees' Union (GTAC-OPSEU) and the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) have mobilized their members to take a stand in their ridings.

Workers reject the Wynne government's political posturing. They oppose Liberals' attempts to distance themselves from the fact that they collaborated with the Conservatives to pass legislation which stripped teachers and education workers of their collective bargaining rights. They also reject the Liberals' attempt to blackmail them with talk that things would be much worse under the Hudak Conservatives, so your only choice is to vote Liberal.

Public sector workers especially are defending their own interests by going all out to defeat both the Liberals and Conservatives. The Liberals, with the Conservatives urging them on, have singled out public sector workers to bear the brunt of austerity with attacks on their job security, wages and working conditions, benefits and pensions. These parties, each in their own way, are playing leading roles in pushing the phony austerity and deficit reduction fraud of the ruling elite. Their aim is to remove $13 billion from social programs and public services to finance privatized public services and other pay-the-rich schemes.

The Wynne government repealed Bill 115 and Wynne's language is softer than the bellicose threats of former Finance Minister Dwight Duncan about legislated public sector contracts. But the contracts imposed on teachers and education workers under Bill 115 are still in effect and hundreds of thousands of health care workers and others in the public sector are currently negotiating collective agreements under the shadow of the threat that they could be next. Wynne is also using manipulation of essential services arbitration and other administrative measures to deny workers their right to a say on their wages and working conditions.

Wynne can talk about resetting a "balance" in public sector labour relations, but there can be no equilibrium without recognition of the basic rights of workers.

As was demonstrated in the Wynne government's first budget and its projection of at least four more years of austerity measures, the Liberals have no more intention of backing off than the Conservatives. The cuts to public sector jobs, public services and social programs are far from over and both parties are united in declaring there is no alternative. The only thing new in the 2013 budget was the announcement of plans for a massive increase in personal taxation and user fees to finance more pay-the-rich schemes in infrastructure. As with the McGuinty clean/green energy swindle, this will only make the situation worse.

It is significant that workers are taking up mobilizing themselves to defeat the Liberals and the Conservatives as was successfully done in the Kitchener-Waterloo by-election last year. They are affirming their rights in so doing. They can go to the electorate with full confidence that their stand in defence of workers' rights is a stand in defence of everyone's rights. It is also a stand against the austerity agenda of the rich and their political representatives, which is causing great harm to the vast majority of the people and to the economy.

Public Service Alliance of Canada Calls on Members
to Defeat Liberals and PCs

The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) is calling on its members to use their votes to take a stand for workers' rights in the five Ontario by-elections being held on August 1.

The majority of PSAC's 30,000 members in Ontario work for the federal government and its agencies. A growing number also work for private sector enterprises and in the broader public sector; including in universities and women's shelters. Many PSAC members live in Ottawa South as well as in the other Ontario ridings where by-elections are being held.

PSAC Ontario says in a statement on their website:

"The Progressive Conservative Party has made it part of their campaign platform that should they get elected they would undermine WSIB by allowing companies to use private insurance companies; further slash health care and education, and weaken unions to drive down wages and benefits.

"Premier Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals are no different than when Dalton McGuinty led the Party. The 2013 budget was full of cuts to health care and education, without raising taxes on big corporations or providing a plan to grow our economy. Bill 115, which stripped education workers of their right to collective bargaining, shows that this government has no respect for workers rights.

"The Conservatives and the Liberals have shown their commitment to austerity and taking away workers rights. For members living in these 5 ridings, it is important that we send a strong message to these parties that attacking workers has consequences."

Windsor-Tecumseh

Teachers and education workers in Windsor report that they are getting the word out to those who are favoured by defeating the Liberals and PCs. Sixty-six percent, or 1,217 of OSSTF District 9's members and members of its Active Retirees Chapter received an automated call encouraging them to take up the 5 for 3 campaign the District launched to get their members to participate in the by-elections. While members are being encouraged to get their friends, families and neighbours to vote, activists of the District have taken the call broadly to workers at local hospitals and autoworkers at their places of work. They have also gone door to door handing out their flyer and explaining their stand to electors. They are taking their stand to the upcoming mass rally for health care at Niagara-on-the-Lake during the Council of the Federation meeting and into London to working people there. With advance voting closing on July 26, they inform that the push next week is to encourage their members to implement the 5 for 3 campaign to defeat the Liberals and PCs and get their people to the polls on voting day in order to make a statement. Anyone interested in joining the push can contact 519-991-5516 or e-mail tedward@osstf9.com

Students Going Door to Door

Students from the University of Windsor Students' Alliance, the undergraduate students' union at the University of Windsor, will be going door to door in the riding of Windsor-Tecumseh to inform electors of the problems they are facing as students, and questions related to post-secondary education that they should ask the candidates who are seeking their votes. Students will also inform people about how to register to vote and participate in the by-elections. The students inform that they will begin the door to door work next week in the days leading up to voting day.

Retirees to Hold All-Candidates Forum

The Windsor Chapter of the Canadian Assocation of Retired Persons (CARP), in cooperation with the National Pension Reform Committee, is holding an all-candidates' meeting concerning pensions, health care and long-term care. Organizers say they hope to show the candidates and senior levels of government that these issues are of concern to their members and many in Ontario. Everyone is encouraged to attend to help make this statement. The forum will take place Sunday, July 28 at 1:30 pm at the Royal Canadian Legion in Tecumseh, 12326 Lanoue Street.

London West

Injured workers and their supporters have called for a protest outside the Liberal campaign office in London West. Organizers from Occupy the WSIB - Justice for Injured Workers want their concerns about the attacks on injured workers by the government heard before the by-election.

The protest will take place Saturday, July 27 from 4-5 pm at the Liberal campaign office 332 Wellington Rd. S. Unit 1A. For more information about the event click here .

Etobicoke-Lakeshore and Scarborough-Guildwood

A bold banner calling on everyone to say No! to Austerity; Defeat the Liberals and PCs! and Hold Governments to Account! greeted local residents attending a music festival Saturday night along Lakeshore Boulevard in the Etobicoke-Lakeshore riding. The team of activists from Ontario Political Forum and their banner were well-received as they engaged passersby in discussion about the political stand that would favour them in the by-election. Many people wanted to hear the argument for blocking both Liberals and PCs, while others smiled on seeing the slogans, already getting the logic, and some affirmed, "I definitely won't vote for either of those parties." Cars honked in support.

Many stopped to talk. An NDP activist who was encouraged by the stand said he would go to their campaign office and tell everyone to read Ontario Political Forum online to see what was going on; a young Liberal eager to have political discussion, asked about the stand to defeat both; an OPSEU shop steward explained what their union was doing to encourage people to vote; and two local environmental activists also stopped to discuss. One man who is on a disability pension on seeing "Hold Governments to Account" stopped to give his example of what problems the government needs to answer for. Several young people stopped and engaged in lively discussion, giving the lie to the propaganda that the youth don't care about politics. Various neighbours and acquaintances stopped by to chat with members of the team.

Throughout the week, the activists had been going door-to-door in the area in particular returning to buildings where the elementary teachers' petition to repeal Bill 115 had been circulated and well-received. Door-to-door work will carry on until the by-election and the team will set up the banner at main intersections and in front of grocery stores to give their call. Anyone interested in joining in can e-mail ontario@cpcml.ca.

OPSEU Activists in Toronto Take a Stand

The Ontario Public Service Employees' Union (OPSEU), Greater Toronto Area Council (GTAC), representing member locals in the GTA, has organized a phone campaign to get OPSEU members out to vote in the two by-elections being held in Toronto. The aim is to contact all OPSEU members in the two ridings.

GTAC is calling on members to defeat the Liberals and Conservatives by voting for the NDP candidates in the by-elections -- P. C. Choo in Etobicoke-Lakeshore and Adam Giambrone in Scarborough-Guildwood. GTAC is urging volunteers to join in the phone campaign.

GTAC says the Liberal government has organized a mid-summer election in the hopes that a low voter turnout will increase their chances of winning the seats vacated by Liberal MPPs who resigned. The phone campaign will work against this attempt to prevent people from expressing themselves.

GTAC member locals represent provincial public sector workers at the Liquor Control Board agencies, in the colleges and universities, health care professionals, conservation officers, counsellors in centres for the developmentally disabled, paramedics, clerks and officers in land title offices, caregivers in community agencies, staff in psychiatric hospitals, court reporters in provincial courts, correctional officers in provincial jails and others in the broad public sector. Any member who wants to volunteer can contact: tlmacmaster@yahoo.ca.

Health Care Is a Right!

Vote Against Austerity in Health Care!

The by-elections this summer present health care workers and other supporters of quality public health care with an opportunity to hold the Liberal government to account for the harm its austerity agenda is causing to the health care system. The by-elections can be a referendum on austerity in health care, just as voters in Kitchener-Waterloo last year used the by-election as a referendum on the Liberal and Conservative austerity agenda for education and injured workers' rights.

The Liberal government, with the Conservatives urging them on, are degrading health services through underfunding and opening the health sector to more and more private investments. The Liberal funding caps will reduce funding for health care by $3 billion and they are trying to pass this off as health care "reform" and "reorganization." But people aren't buying it. In recent months there have been actions by health care workers and community supporters of public health all across the province. This mobilization is gaining momentum as the effects of underfunding in the last two years of austerity budgets show up as hospital bed closures, layoffs of health workers and reduced services.

Some of these actions have received very broad support. A petition against hospital closings in the Niagara region was signed by 20,000 people who will be affected. In Kingston the Ontario Health Coalition organized a referendum so people could show their opposition to a hospital in that city being built as a private-public partnership (P3) project. Ten thousand people voted in the referendum against a P3 hospital.

In March, during a Day of Action to Save Our Services (SOS) there were demonstrations and forums held in 16 cities and towns in every region of Ontario. Among people participating in the Day of Action were people in all four cities where by-elections are being held: Ottawa, Toronto, Windsor and London.

The hospitals used by people in two of the ridings where there are by-elections -- Ottawa-South and Scarborough-Guildwood -- are facing very big cuts and service disruptions. Information about the cuts is widely known and the opposition to them is very widespread. Candidates in these ridings are being forced to address the concern of electors about these hospital cuts.

In Ottawa, there have been several actions in recent months to oppose service at the Ottawa Hospital being completely eliminated or transferred to private clinics. The Ontario Health Coalition calls the Ottawa Hospital "ground zero" for hospital privatization. In January, the Ottawa Hospital announced it would eliminate the jobs of 290 health care workers. The cuts included the elimination of 90 nursing positions and, on April 25, more nursing job cuts were announced. This brings the total nursing hour cuts by the Ottawa Hospital to 200,000 per year. In March the hospital said it was eliminating 1,500 cataract surgeries a year and transferring 5,000 endoscopies a year to private clinics in order to align itself with the Ministry of Health's hospital re-organization.

People living in Scarborough-Guildwood rely on Scarborough Hospital and Rouge Valley Hospital, both of which together have a $28 million deficit because of the government hospital funding formula. To maintain service at the current levels, the hospitals say they need a five per cent increase in funding, but the government has capped funding. Scarborough Hospital has already started cutting services and laying off workers. This year the hospital eliminated 200 positions, closed two surgeries and 20 surgical beds, and last week shuttered an outpatient clinic for those suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. More cuts are expected. As another cost cutting measure, the Central East Local Health Integration Network, which controls government funding to the hospitals, is forcing a merger that will result in consolidation and elimination of local access to some services. An earlier service consolidation plan had to be dropped because of widespread opposition.

The Hudak Conservatives of course are hoping to benefit from the widespread opposition to the Liberals' hospital closures, bed cuts and service cuts. Hudak blames Liberal mismanagement for the cuts and says health care costs can be reduced without service cuts by finding "efficiencies." But people are well aware that the cause of the cuts is the austerity and deficit reduction fraud that both the Liberals and Conservatives are pushing. People are also aware that Hudak was part of the government of the Harris Conservatives that launched a massive bed cutting and hospital closing program in the mid 1990s. Since then, Conservative and Liberal governments have closed between them 18,900 hospital beds.

Public health care services and the right of all to the best possible health care need to be defended from both the Liberals and the Conservatives. Opposing austerity in health care in the by-election August 1 means defeating both the Liberals and Conservatives.

July 24 and 25 -- Niagara-on-the-Lake Organized by: Canadian and Ontario Health Coalitions Buses departing from across the province -- contact Ontario Health Coalition for information: www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca  or call, 416-441-2502

Concerns of the Working People

U.S. Steel's Underhanded Attempt to
Mislead Workers and Destroy Their Union

Steelworkers from U.S. Steel's Lake Erie Works facility are dealing with the ongoing attempts by U.S. Steel to use a phony lockout to try and extort concessions from the workers and destroy their union. Information Update, a publication of United Steelworkers Local 1005 in Hamilton, informs that their brothers and sisters in Local 8782 of USW are holding their own meetings to inform their members ahead of a mandated vote on a contract the company is trying to get passed. The company is hoping that the workers will take whatever is offered after being denied Employment Insurance (see Ontario Political Forum #43, July 10, 2013). The company is holding "information meetings" in an attempt to divide the workers and undermine their union leadership after the union refused to remain silent on the vote, something the company was trying to "negotiate."

Local 8782 points out that U.S. Steel has been less than honest with Lake Erie workers. It turns out that even the copy of the contract they are distributing to the workers as "information" to get them to sign is an incomplete document. Local 8782 President Bill Ferguson points out that the company is trying to reverse language that protects workers from contracting out by unilaterally eliminating an important part of the contract language section without informing the workers.

In opposing the companies scheme, Information Update points out that U.S. Steel locked the Lake Erie workers out for a reason -- to extort concessions and get a virtually non-union shop. "Is this what we want? We have already lost our Canadian steel-making industry and now they want to impose non-union shops, non-union wages, non-union dangerous conditions where we will have nobody to fight for us. If we think it is hard to fight now, go talk to our brothers and sisters who have no unions. They are turning the clock back an entire century," it says. Ontario Political Forum calls on everyone to speak up in support of the one thousand steelworkers at Lake Erie. Get this week's edition of Information Update here.

Migrant Farm Workers Demand Justice

The Wynne government's talk about "fairness" rings hollow when one considers that it refuses to affirm the rights of migrant workers who are used as a pool of cheap labour by employers in Ontario and are not provided the same rights as other workers.

On June 28 in Toronto, migrant farm workers and their supporters demonstrated outside a hearing at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) to demand justice for migrant farm workers by bringing the discriminatory treatment they face to the the light of day. The demonstrators were at the hearing to support a case brought by William Peart, the brother of Ned Peart. Ned Peart is a Jamaican farm worker who was killed on the job at an Ontario farm while working in Canada under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP).

William Peart is requesting a ruling from the HRTO that the Ontario government discriminates against migrant farm workers by not holding inquests into workplace deaths of farm workers. Although there have been many deaths of migrant workers on Ontario farms since the SAWP started in the 1960s, there has never been a coroner's inquest into any of these deaths. Coroners' inquests are mandatory in construction and mining deaths but not for deaths of migrant farm workers who, like construction workers and miners, also suffer a high number of workplace deaths.

William Peart explained the HRTO case is important so that the high number of workplace injuries and deaths among migrant farm workers doesn't continue to be ignored. "Even if the tribunal rules against the coroner's inquest, at least it should be an eye opener to the rest of Canada. It's like, hey, are we children of a lesser God, or what? If we don't have an inquest, there will never be a solution and there will never be laws to prevent it from happening to other farm workers," he said.

Among those participating in the demonstration and attending the hearing to support the Peart family were widows of some of the ten migrant farm workers killed on the job in Hampstead, Ontario in February 2012. Also among those attending was Winston Morrison who had his leg amputated as a result of workplace poisoning on an Ontario farm and who was denied just compensation by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. Speaking to the demonstrators, Morrison said, "Migrant farm workers, we are the ones that put food on Ontario tables, yet we are still treated like we are nobody."

The demonstration was organized by the migrant farm worker defence organization, Justice For Migrant Workers. A spokesperson for the organization said the HRTO case is an important contribution to breaking the silence around migrant farm worker deaths, "There's never been an inquest, ever in the history of Ontario, into the death of a migrant worker. This is an important process; this is an historical process. It's about breaking the invisibility that happens with migrant workers across Ontario."

Unemployment and Economic Stagnation

- Jim Nugent -

High unemployment and economic stagnation in Ontario are ongoing and deep concerns of working people in the province. This is a central issue in political affairs, including the current by-elections, because workers consider a government unfit to rule if it is unable to organize the economy in a manner that provides a livelihood for those who can work. Fraudulent promises about job creation fill the airwaves during an election or by-election. The centrepiece of the Liberals' program has always been that we should pay the rich in order to secure investments which create jobs. The jobs never materialize because the aim is merely to dress pay-the-rich schemes in high ideals. Meanwhile, the Conservatives say their program will truly create jobs. The working people are supposed to decide whose promises they will trust instead of putting forward their own demands for the economy.

People are concerned because there are more than half a million unemployed workers in Ontario and hundreds of thousands more who want full-time work but can only find part-time jobs. Working people are also concerned that mass unemployment and stagnation have been dragging on now for years. Even before the financial crisis of 2008-09, there were 450,000 unemployed in Ontario and the destruction of the manufacturing sector had been creating high unemployment levels for many years before that.

Years of economic stagnation are hitting young people particularly hard because the economy is not expanding fast enough to absorb young workers joining the labour force. There are 180,000 young workers unemployed and they make up a third of Ontario's unemployed. Half of the young people who are working have only part-time jobs even though many are looking for full-time work.

Another concern of working people is the downward pressure mass unemployment puts on all workers' wages and working conditions. As well as the millions of workers who are directly affected by layoffs, plant closures, public sector job cuts and unstable employment situations, increased competition for jobs affects the whole working class. Unionized workers in large enterprises are facing more and fiercer attempts by the monopoly owners to dictate concession contracts under threat of moving to lower wage jurisdictions. Younger workers are being hit hard on this issue. Two-tier arrangements with lower pay, benefits, pensions and job security for young workers have become commonplace in many sectors. There are now 600,000 workers earning only the minimum wage in Ontario and many of these are young workers.

The political parties of the ruling elite are aware of this widespread concern among the electorate about unemployment and the whole direction of the economy. These parties recognize this concern in their marketing strategies, especially during elections. Immediately after announcing there would be by-elections this summer, Premier Kathleen Wynne declared unemployment to be "the top issue." Progressive Conservative (PC) leader Tim Hudak is giving a similar pitch about job creation being the PC's priority.

After hearing the same kind of proclamations from self-serving politicians for years, many working people have come to see such statements as empty rhetoric as the situation only gets worse. These statements, and the past actions of these parties while in government, do not reassure people that their deep concern about mass unemployment and economic stagnation in Ontario will be addressed by these politicians or even be taken seriously.

People understand that a new direction is needed for Ontario's economy and the politicians of the ruling elite constantly try to undermine this understanding by putting forward what are called "new initiatives." Invariably, these initiatives turn out to be schemes to pay the rich incentives, or give them handouts not to close. These schemes only weaken the economy, making the problem of unemployment and stagnation worse.

The current Liberal government, like the previous PC government, excels at finding ways to hand billions of dollars over to international monopolies through schemes that are supposed to create or save jobs. There is a long list, from the sell-out of Bruce Nuclear to the GM and Chrysler bailouts, to McGuinty's green/clean energy fraud. If handing out billions of dollars to the monopolies worked to create jobs and economic growth, Ontario would have full employment and a vibrant economy, which is clearly not the case. Instead, these schemes have been used to create a situation where the monopolies declare record profits, as in the case of Chrysler, for example, while the workers are told they must "stay the course" on restraint. A few people get rich and the international financial oligarchy is able to constantly drain more value out of the economy.

Liberals and PCs Failed Economic Strategy

Currently, the Liberals and the PCs have a similar economic strategy, which they push under the banner of austerity and deficit reduction. It involves taking $13 billion out of social programs and public services, most of it from public sector job cuts and pay cuts. Every penny of this funding extracted from social programs and those who provide them will go into pay-the-rich schemes in one form or another. Many of these schemes involve a short burst of construction activity and employment, followed by an international monopoly's steady drain of value out of the economy for many years. Others involve destroying public services to make way for private for-profit services with high user fees. Others are straight handouts as usury on the debt. All of these schemes weaken the economy.

People cannot expect a new direction for the economy from the parties and social forces that have put Ontario on its current course. They are neither able nor interested to create an alternative. The new direction people see the need for can only be established by a new political force that has an interest and is capable of reorganizing the economy so the rights of all to a livelihood are at the centre. The new direction will come from an organized workers' opposition, that is, working people opposing the direction the ruling elite and their political parties are pushing the economy and the society, and putting forward its own pro-social program. Defeating the Liberals and Conservatives will contribute to turning the economy around.

For Your Information

By-Election Candidates and Parties

Nominations to be a candidate in the by-elections closed July 18. As of that date there are two independent candidates running. Parties fielding candidates in all five ridings are: Freedom, Green, Liberal, Libertarian, NDP and PC Parties. The People with Special Needs Party is running in three ridings, Family Coalition and People Parties in two, and the Paupers Party in one. To be a candidate one has to have completed the Candidate Registration and Change Notice Form and obtained the signatures of 25 electors in the riding. For a full listing of all candidates in the ridings visit Elections Ontario here.

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