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Arbitration and the Right to Strike
If voluntary binding interest arbitration (VBIA) is agreed to by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation
(OSSTF) members, it would mean that they would no longer have the legal
right to strike in any way shape or form from that point on until the
next contract expires. This also means that even prior to any
ruling by the arbitrator teachers and education workers represented by
OSSTF will not be in any legal position to act when the government
continues on its path of making unilateral changes to existing
structures and arrangements using its majority in the Legislature to
act with impunity.
This itself is what the government really wants so that it can carry on doing as it pleases at a time when it is seen to be more corrupt and self-serving than ever. The government is fine with an arbitrator deciding all matters of importance in the education system because arbitrators are not likely to make breakthrough decisions on funding education in Ontario or on working conditions and will mainly focus on matters related to pay. The government can accommodate such decisions so long as it can carry on restructuring education and putting its aim to provide skilled labour for narrow private interests in first place. The government has no program to strengthen the public domain. Its aims are favoured by getting one union to agree, to then pressure others to also join so that they do not have to go the route of imposing terms using legislation -- something which blew up in their faces with CUPE-OSBCU.
In addition, the government's anti-social interests are also favoured if it can claim that this new mechanism of using VBIA before exhausting all aspects of collective bargaining, including strike action, is something that benefits the youth and society in general. These arrangements will be presented as a mechanism to resolve labour disputes and those who do not accept it will be labelled as uncompromising and disruptive.
Experience shows that the government's PR schemes fall apart when workers refuse to accept the limitations it tries to impose on their thinking and actions. This lesson from the experience of fighting Bill 28 and its complete withdrawal is important in considering what to do at the present time.
This article was published in
Number 51 - September 17, 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2023/Articles/WO10515.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca