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February 14, 2019
Challenges
Facing the Workers in Quebec
Attempts by
the
Ruling Elite to
Dismantle Workers' Collective
Defence Organizations
- Pierre Chénier -
PDF
  
• Horne
Copper Smelter Workers Resist Unjust
Disciplinary Measures by Glencore
Northwest
Territories
• Public Service Workers Call Off
Strike Action
and Enter Binding Mediation
United
States
• Los Angeles Teachers Resolutely
Defend Right
to Education
Challenges Facing the Workers in
Quebec
- Pierre Chénier -
In an effort to dismantle the collective defence
organizations of
workers, workers' organized resistance in defence of rights is
being
blamed for causing disruption in various sectors of the economy.
Workers' collective defence organizations and organized struggle
in
defence of rights are said to be an attack on the economy and
individual
workers, who allegedly merely want to make a living and don't
care
about anything else.
 The
construction sector is one in which concerted attempts are being
made
by governments to smash workers' collective defence
organizations. The
measures they are taking aim to give construction companies
unfettered
ability to act with impunity on construction sites so as to
maximize
profits no matter what the consequences on the workers'
health and safety and the safety of the public.
Turning truth on its head, the claim is made that
union
intervention on construction sites in defence of health and
safety
constitutes intimidation against employers and individual workers
"who
just want to work." That was the allegation against Quebec crane
operators when they valiantly refused to show up for work for a
week in
June 2018 to protest a dangerous new regulation downgrading
their
professional training and threatening the safety of crane
operators and
the public.
To say the crane operators were using
intimidation
against their
colleagues who allegedly merely wanted to go to work is a
slander. The
crane operators were opposed to a regime which demanded they
abide by
whatever new regulations the government brings in without due
consideration and investigation of the effects and without having
the
consent of those directly affected and their
organizations.[1]
The Quebec Construction Commission (CCQ), the
agency of
the Quebec
government mandated to manage labour relations, vocational
training and
workforce management in the sector, claims to have recorded
several
cases of intimidation carried out by the union against individual
crane
operators. The CCQ did not produce the evidence but said it
may use the information to prosecute workers and their union.
The CCQ constantly refers to the authority it
possesses
with the R-20 legislation, the Act respecting labour
relations,
vocational training and workforce management in the construction
industry, which contains a number of provisions on
intimidation.
The Act
stipulates, "Any person who uses intimidation or threats that are
reasonably
likely to cause an obstruction to or a slowdown or stoppage of
activities on a job site is guilty of an offence and liable to a
fine
of $1,137 to $11,370 for each day or part of a day
during
which the
offence continues."
The Act continues, "Any person who uses
intimidation or
threats
that are likely to compel an employer to make a decision
regarding
workforce management in the construction industry or to prevent
the
employer from making such a decision, or otherwise imposes such a
decision, is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine
of $1,541
to $15,373." In addition, union representatives found guilty
under
the
Act can be prohibited from exercising their duties for a
five-year
period."
The intent is clear: make it ever more difficult
and
even illegal
for workers' collective defence organizations to intervene in
defence
of proper working conditions.
 Also
striking in connection with this is how the Charbonneau
Commission is
used in part to portray workers' organizations as criminal,
mafia-type
bodies.
The Quebec Liberal government created the
Charbonneau
Commission
in 2011 with the official mandate to examine and eradicate
collusion
and corruption in the awarding of public construction contracts
and
expose links that might exist between this corruption and
political
party financing, and the infiltration of the construction
industry
by organized crime.
The Charbonneau Commission insinuated that
workers'
collectives and
allied organizations waging concerted actions in defence of the
rights
of workers, which occasionally lead to disruption of activities
on work
sites, are akin to mafia organizations. The Commission asserted
this
without even looking into the aims behind such actions of the
organized workers or the reasons precipitating their actions, the
causes they were defending and the outcomes they hoped to achieve
through their actions. The Charbonneau Commission's anti-worker
views
and recommendations were incorporated into some of the amendments
of
the R-20 legislation.
Meanwhile, many of the constant activities and
problems
that
seriously disrupt the lives of those in the construction sector,
sometimes tragically resulting in deaths and serious injuries,
remain
unattended and uninvestigated. Those responsible for refusing to
take
action to resolve problems are not held to account. The ruling
elite
want a situation
where construction workers are fair game for whatever the big
companies
want to do to maximize their private profits.
Similar to how the construction workers in Quebec
are
being targeted, the Ford government in Ontario is also targeting
the
professional organizations of nurses, teachers and other
professional
sectors. By reducing members of these professions into voiceless
individuals, all of them are rendered defenceless. The situation
facing
workers today makes it all the more important to have them speak
out
and strengthen their organized struggles to block such attacks on
their
unions and open a way forward in defence of their rights and the
rights
of all.
Note
1. In Ontario, the Ford government's Bill 66
slanders organized construction workers in a similar way with the
accusation that they are "bankrupting" public institutions such
as
school boards, colleges, universities, hospitals and
municipalities
because of the measures and arrangements contained in
"generous" collective agreements. Bill 66 was tabled without
discussion
or consent of those directly affected. If the bill passes,
organized
construction workers employed by designated public institutions
will be
removed from those sites where they are now working and any
future
sites with their negotiated collective agreements declared null
and void. This opens the door to the massive hiring of individual
construction workers in these public sectors without the
protection of
a union or a collective agreement. This anti-worker dictate of
the Ford
government in the service of the financial oligarchy cannot be
considered anything other than criminal.
Stand with smelter workers and
their
freedom of speech!
Workers at Glencore's Horne copper smelter in
Rouyn-Noranda in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue administrative
region
of Québec report that management has disciplined ten of
their
colleagues for participation in a Rouyn Facebook page. Workers
say a
large number of people in Rouyn-Noranda, including workers at the
smelter,
regularly visit this particular Facebook page.
 The Rouyn Facebook
page
recently had a picture of a young man suffering obvious breathing
problems with the caption "that must be because I worked at the
smelter." The smelter was not named. Some workers at the smelter
responded to the item by clicking "Like" while others left
comments,
which is ordinarily what people do when they
visit Facebook pages.
Representatives of the Glencore company summoned
ten
workers of the smelter who had responded to the picture and
disciplined
them for allegedly violating the global mining and metallurgy
monopoly's Code of Conduct. Disciplinary measures ranged from
suspension to written and verbal warnings. The Noranda Mine
Workers'
Union at the
smelter is grieving all these unjust and arbitrary measures.
Glencore's Code of Conduct is a lengthy document
that
covers matters including health and safety, human rights,
communities,
environment, taxation, communication, protecting and maintaining
assets
etc. from the point of view and outlook of the company. Workers
report
that the Code is only referenced when the company takes action
against the workers for not showing loyalty to the company.
Loyalty in
effect means that workers are expected to keep silent about any
problems arising at the workplace and any views they may have for
dealing with the problems.
The company goes so far as to monitor Facebook
pages
that workers and people routinely visit, tracking comments for
the
purpose of exercising arbitrary disciplinary measures against
smelter
workers if the company deems they have been disloyal. For
example, the
mere mention of problems related to the health and safety of
workers is
considered an attack on the public profile and reputation of the
company. Under this dictatorial regime, disloyalty of workers is
used
as an excuse for the company to refuse to acknowledge problems
exist
and take action to rectify them, and to deprive workers of their
freedom of speech and right to participate publicly and openly in
identifying and
fixing problems.
Facebook is a forum on which people make
comments.
Glencore's tracking of workers' Facebook comments and subsequent
disciplinary actions represents an extension of the power of the
monopoly into workers' lives and freedom of speech and
conscience. This
is dangerous to the workers and their community, as the aim is to
force
workers
into silence, which is not only an attack on their rights but can
also
turn into a nightmare with deadly consequences within industrial
production such as a smelter.
Workers rightly consider this latest attack of
Glencore
as totally unacceptable and demand that the company back off from
the
disciplinary measures against their ten colleagues. Workers have
the
right to speak out on issues that directly concern them at their
workplace, community and society. To use the power of employment
to
deprive
workers of their freedom of speech and conscience is an abuse of
authority and cannot and should never be tolerated.
Northwest Territories
The Union of Northern Workers, in a
February 10
press release, announced that two days of mediation failed to
produce a
tentative agreement between the union representing
over 4,000
public service workers and the Government of Northwest
Territories
(GNWT). The union and GNWT did agree to submit their outstanding
issues to binding recommendations from a mediator appointed by
the
government.
 According to the
union, the
decision to agree to binding mediation comes from some headway
made
during the weekend's mediation. Wages, the term of the agreement
and
issues around job security remain outstanding. Workers went into
the
weekend talks with demands for wages that allow them to keep
ahead of
the increases to the cost of living and for the creation of more
full-time jobs with benefits and a pension plan, in opposition to
the
reality of workers often working for years as relief workers with
no
access to benefits and a pension plan. Workers also consider the
government's demand for a five year collective agreement too
long.
Earlier, on February 8, the GNWT
voted 11
to 6 with one abstention to reject a Yellowknife MLA's
motion
calling on the territorial government to move to binding
arbitration.
The union had itself approached the government with a proposal to
settle the dispute with binding arbitration but the government
flatly
rejected it
under the hoax of letting the negotiation process unfold. The
union
pointed out that the government's offer was unacceptable to the
workers
three years ago and remains so today. Why the government agreed
to
binding mediation at this time remains to be seen but workers are
calling upon the mediator to address their main demands and
concerns.
In the period leading up to the cancelled strike,
planned for February 11, the GNWT was extremely provocative
sending documents directly to workers' homes misrepresenting its
offer
and openly calling upon public service workers to cross the
picket
lines during the strike.
The GNWT claims to show respect for public
service
workers who provide vital services and value that the people of
the
territories depend upon for their living but instead constantly
misinforms the public as to the economic nature of public service
work
and social programs. It posits public sector work as valueless
and
government payment for
the capacity to work of public sector workers as a debilitating
cost
that drains public funds from infrastructure projects currently
under
consideration. This unscientific nonsense must be denounced and
rejected as self-serving, corrupt and in the service of a
financial
oligarchy that views the north and its resources only for the
great
amount of social
value it can expropriate from what workers produce.
Workers are both the builders of infrastructure
and
creators of the value it contains; they are the producers of
social
wealth through public services and social programs. They have a
just
claim on the value they create in all sectors of the economy at a
modern standard of living acceptable to workers themselves.
Workers'
Forum joins
the public service workers of the Northwest Territories in
demanding
that their just demands and concerns be addressed.
United States
Teachers rally at Los Angeles city hall, January 19, 2019.
About 34,000 Los Angeles teachers and staff,
in
more than 900 schools with more than 640,000 students
in the
country's second-largest school district went on strike
January 14
and remained out until January 23. After filling the streets
and
picketing at schools every day and holding massive demonstrations
of more than 50,000 at City Hall, the teachers and staff
secured
important gains. They voted by 81 per cent to accept their
new
contract and return to work. The Los Angeles unified school
district
agreed to
hire more nurses, librarians, and counselors; reduce standardized
testing and random police searches of students; create an
immigrant
defence fund; hand budget control of 30 schools over to
local
communities and reduce class sizes.
 
From day one of the strike, huge majorities of
teachers
showed up at their schools every morning to hold the picket
lines,
together with parents and students. Then strikers and their
supporters
headed downtown for rallies that topped 50,000 the first day
and
kept growing. The streets were full of joy. All week, everywhere
there
was
singing, dancing, spoken word, brass bands and mariachis.
Teachers did
not let the drenching rain daunt them; they suited up in ponchos,
and
laminated their song sheets and picket signs. As one sign put it,
"45
is the Speed Limit, Not a Class Size." They also made certain
that all
across the city, people were talking about the strike and its
demands
-- in coffee shops, on the bus, in stores.
The teachers took a stand of social
responsibility,
defending the interests of society for fully-funded public
schools,
with the nurses, librarians and counselors required, as well as
their
collective interests for better working conditions, like smaller
classes and wages commensurate with the difficult work they do.
The
United Teachers of Los
Angeles (UTLA) organized the strike, which had broad support from
parents, students and community organizations.
 
More counselors and nurses and smaller classes are
directly related to efforts to block the school-to-prison
pipeline.
California ranks 47th in the nation when it comes to
counsellor
access: there is an average of one counsellor for every 682
students, far exceeding the recommended ratio of one to 250.
At
the same time, the
district spends $80 million a year on police. The lack of
counselors, nurses, and social workers combined with large
classes
feeds the school-to-prison pipeline. Amir Whitaker, a staff
attorney
with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California
put it
this way: "It relates to the teachers having large classes: if
you
can't manage
forty students and call for help, and if there is no
social-emotional
support, only the police are on hand." Los Angeles has large
numbers of
African American and Latino students who bear the brunt of police
actions in the schools.
UTLA also called for a moratorium on new charter
schools in the district. The charters are privately run and not
accountable to the public, although they utilize public funds and
are
often co-located in public school buildings. One in five students
in
Los Angeles now attends a charter school, and there are more
than 200 such schools in
the district -- one of the largest proportions in the country.
The
charters are being utilized to undermine unions and eliminate
public
education and the social responsibility of government to provide
it.
However, in this case, charter school teachers supported the
strike and
planned a strike of their own.
At a mass public rally outside City Hall on
January 22, UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl told the crowd,
"We
did not win because of a single leader." He added, "We did not
win
because of a small group of leaders. We won because you -- at
more
than 900 schools across the entire city, with parents, with
students, with
community organizations -- you walked the line." He emphasized
later in
an interview, "The creativity and innovation and passion and love
and
emotion of our members was out on the street, in the communities,
in
the parks, for everyone to see. And I'm so proud of our members
--
classroom teachers, counselors, nurses, librarians,
psychologists,
early educators, adult educators -- who took it upon themselves,
in
record numbers on picket lines," to defend public education and
demand
government accountability for providing it.
At the mass rally on January 22, Secretary
and
Bargaining Chair Arlene Inouye reviewed the high points of the
tentative agreement, which was published in full on-line:
- A full-time nurse in every school.
Another 300
nurses will be hired over the next two years.
- A full-time librarian in every middle school
and high
school. The district will hire 82 more librarians.
- More counselors. The district will hire 17
more
counselors to maintain one counsellor for every 500 middle
and
high school students. While a case load of 500 is far higher
than
the needed 1 for every 250 students, it will assist. As
well
additional funding was secured to lower the ratios for
psychiatric
social
workers, psychologists and attendance counselors.
- An immigrant defence fund, with a dedicated
hotline
and attorney for immigrant families.
- Less testing. The district and union will
establish a
committee to cut the amount of standardized testing by half.
- Class size reductions. Gone is the hated
Section 1.5 which allowed the district to ignore contractual
limits on class size. Class size caps can now be enforced, and
when a
class goes over the cap a new class will need to be formed.
Further,
for grades 4-12 class limits will be decreased by four over
the
next three years.
- Progress on charters. The Board of Education
will
support a statewide moratorium on charter schools -- which is a
positive political step, though it does not mean a Los Angeles
moratorium. The union also won increased notice and voice in the
process where charter schools are co-located in neighborhood
schools.
- A 6 per cent raise, with 3 per cent
retroactive to the 2017-2018 school year and 3 per cent
for
this year, retroactive to July 1, 2018. There will be
salary
re-openers in future years.
- Fewer random searches. The number of schools
that do
not do random searches of students will double from 14
to 28.
- Community schools. Thirty schools will get this
designation and additional funding. A council of local people
will run
each school's budget, working with the community coordinator (a
new
union position).
- A joint push by the union, the district, and
the
mayor for more school funding from the county and state. Mayor
Eric
Garcetti agreed to endorse the Schools and Communities
First
initiative on the 2020 ballot, which will close California's
commercial property tax loophole and restore $11 billion in
funding to schools
and other public services.
- Green space. A task force to develop more green
space
in schools.
After the rally teachers returned to their school
sites
to
review and discuss the agreements with their co-workers, and vote
on
whether to accept it and return to work the next morning. Some
teachers
around the city were frustrated at a process they felt was
rushed. The
large
majority voted yes on the agreement, and returned to their
classrooms
on January 23.
Strike Blocks Efforts to Eliminate Public School
District
Los Angeles is the largest U.S. school district
governed
by an elected school board. (The largest district, New York City,
and
third largest, Chicago, are both governed by mayoral
appointees.)
 Year after year, its
school
board elections have broken spending records. Monopoly forces
striving
to eliminate public education spent $13 million in the last
Los
Angeles
board election. Most of it came from the Walton family (the
owners of
Walmart) and Eli Broad, two of the biggest funders nationally of
charter schools, vouchers, and
privatization. The anti-public schools forces won a majority of
the
seats on the school board. And after the previous superintendent
resigned early last year for health reasons, that majority
handpicked
the current superintendent, Austin Beutner. Beutner has no
education
backing and is a multi-millionaire from Wall Street. His plan,
backed
by Broad,
was to eliminate the unified Los Angles school district and
ensure at
least half of the students went to privately run but publicly
funded
charter schools. Beutner was previously used to undermine public
school
districts in Detroit and New Orleans, which now has no public
schools
remaining and no central school district. The Los Angeles strike
served
to
block this direction at this time.
As Arlene Inouye explained, "We are a union that
four
years ago set out on this path. This just didn't happen, you
know, the
last 21 months when we've been in negotiations. But four
years
ago, we set down a path to organize our schools, to bring in
parents
and communities and to have a social justice agenda, an
educational
justice
agenda for all of our students."
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