Ontario Political Forum

On March 27, the Association of Management, Administrative, and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario (AMAPCEO) held a press conference at the Ontario Legislature to announce that their members had voted 94 per cent in favour of job action if the Ontario government continues to try and dictate concessions from the members in the form of wage freezes, cuts to health and pension benefits, reduction in job security and disability benefits, to name a few. This strong strike vote serves the Wynne government, as well as all parties in the legislature notice that the Ontario Crown employees are affirming their rights with a clear conscience and that government is duty-bound to bargain in good faith and honour the work that they perform which benefits and contributes to the well-being of all Ontarians.

At the press conference, Gary Gannage, the President of AMAPCEO stressed that the membership has given the negotiating team a vote of confidence with this first strike vote in the organization's 22-year history. He pointed out that in the last round of negotiations the union gave up more concessions than any public sector union in Ontario and it was unacceptable that the Wynne government's negotiating team is demanding even more from the workers now. Gannage emphasized that the Liberal government plan to pay down the deficit by extracting concessions from the 12,000 members of AMAPCEO is simply "not on." He pointed out it was patently unjust for the government to demand concessions to pay down a deficit that was not caused by the workers.

At the press conference, two AMAPCEO members, Krista Corbeil and Norm Mohamid, gave their own experiences of what it would be like if they and other workers lost their health care benefits, which the Wynne government is threatening to cut or reduce. Both workers stated that it was not acceptable for the government to punish those who had health problems and reduce their compensation, paramedical care and pensions. Without health care supports, both Ms. Corbeil and Mr. Mohamid noted that they would not be able to work. In the case of Ms. Corbeil, reduction in health care benefits would mean that she would face the possibility of bankruptcy if she were to have to pay for her paramedical benefits herself. She challenged the Wynne government to come and spend one day with her to see what her life is like before they even think of demanding these cuts.

The Chair of the AMAPCEO negotiating team, Dianne Colville stated that in her eighteen years in the labour movement, she has never seen so brazen and callous an employer as the Wynne government, which is going after the benefits of the most vulnerable workers. She noted that the Wynne government is going after sick or disabled workers by penalizing them for being sick, reducing their benefits and pushing them into earlier retirement with reduced benefits. "Our membership is collectively determined to stand up for fairness, and to reject concessions that would hurt us and our families," she said.

Gary Gannage noted that it is Ontario's public servants that make the government function and that the workers are disappointed and angry with the manner in which the government has abused them and demanded that they give up their basic rights to wages, benefits and a pension commensurate with the work they perform and the years they have served. Gannage challenged Premier Wynne to match her words with action, citing a recent speech she gave at the Liberal Heritage Dinner where she said: "I believe it would be a mistake to declare war on labour -- we don't need that kind of risky, radical approach. Not ever. But especially not now." Gannage called on the government to abandon its intimidation and bullying and to negotiate in good faith.

Ontario Political Forum salutes the fighting spirit of the public service workers in AMAPCEO who are defending the interests of all Ontarians in affirming their right to negotiate their wages and working conditions free from blackmail and dictate. In so doing they are defending a Canadian standard of living and blocking the theft of public funds from vital public services and those who provide them in order to pay the rich.

The Working People's Fight for Rights Holds Government to Account

The actions of the Wynne government on many fronts, egged on by the anti-worker rhetoric of the PCs, show that it is determined to steal more funds from workers in the public sector and the services they provide in order to free up this money to pay the moneylenders who hold Ontario's odious debt. The stolen funds are also used to directly pay monopolies in certain sectors who "promise" to set up shop or remain in Ontario, while others who have benefited from government largesse in the past leave with impunity. It is determined to do this because it can see no alternative other than to attack its own employees and the services they provide in order to pay the rich.

The Wynne Liberals base themselves on the narrow neo-liberal assumptions pushed on society by the monopolies and their representatives in government, academia and business. They refuse to discuss any alternative that might break through these assumptions. They talk about accountability and even table "accountability legislation" to hide that the people are not the ones setting the agenda in the first place, much less the ones being accounted to. In fact the bankruptcy of their agenda is such that at the same time as they pass such legislation, pretending they want to be more accountable to the people and "restore public trust," they openly blackmail the working people -- as Wynne did at the recent Liberal AGM -- pushing the fraud that it is better to elect the bully you know (the Liberals) -- that bullies you with high-sounding ideals -- than one that bullies you without any high-sounding ideals (the PCs).

The problem for Wynne and the other champions of austerity, the PCs, is that the working people refuse to submit to their illegitimate agenda and the blackmail that comes with it and are more and more clamouring for a new direction based on what is in the general interests of the society. This expresses itself in the refusal of workers to accept attacks on their rights in the name of austerity, which takes the form of demands that government negotiate, not dictate and that workers' rights to a say over their wages and working conditions be affirmed. This is significant given that the monopolies are demanding the government dictate because they want their pound of flesh and see the workers' resistance as a block to their interests.

This clash between the interests of the working people on the one hand and the monopolies and governments that defend them on the other comes out in stark relief today. The working people have seen that the agenda pursued by the government and its justifications for attacking them are bogus. They are a fraud to hide that the government has no intention of actually solving the serious problems facing the economy and developing one that can provide for the people. This can be seen in the fact that the government is attacking the very public services that add immense value to the economy, presenting them as a drain on society, rather than an investment to be realized.

The actions of the working people to continue to affirm their right to say No! to austerity, whether this takes the form of strike votes or political actions and protests, is what has exposed the austerity agenda as illegitimate and a fraud and given rise to public opinion, which is necessary to hold government to account. The defeat suffered by the Liberals and PCs in the 2012 Kitchener-Waterloo by-election was decisive in that it broke through the monopoly on power of the Liberals and PCs and upset the apple cart by winning over public opinion to defend the rights of all. The defeats for both in following by-elections further built public opinion that austerity and dictate are not in the interest of the people.

The stand of the working people is that their rights are not the problem or what is blocking society's path to progress. It is the affirmation of their rights and the rights of all that opens the path because it is based on the interests of the majority in opposition to the tiny minority that has seized power through the parties in the Legislature by means of electoral coups. Taking political actions that affirm these rights, such as those to defeat the Liberals and PCs, is what holds government to account and creates the conditions to turn things around.

Stand as One Against Government's
New Attempts to Dictate Austerity!

On March 27, the Wynne government released its Grants for Students Needs (GSN) for the 2014-15 school year. These grants represent its funding for local school boards. In the grants that have been announced for next year, the government has provided no funding to school boards for movement of teachers and support staff on their salary grids (pay scales) for the first half of their work year, amounting to a 50 per cent cut in the increment they normally receive for experience gained upon completing a year of service. This is one of the austerity provisions the Liberals used Bill 115 to impose on anyone not yet at the maximum rate of pay for their job class, and was in addition to the grids themselves being frozen at 2011-12 rates. Both types of freezes were imposed for a two year "restraint" period ending August 31, 2014. When Bill 115 was passed by the Liberals and PCs, it gave executive power to the government to arbitrarily extend this restraint period into the future, but the Liberals were forced to repeal the bill following the mass opposition of teachers and education workers.

Now, by depriving school boards of half the funding needed to accommodate the annual progression of teachers and support staff on their salary grids, the government is trying to impose an extension of the "restraint period" in another way, having lost the power to dictate it openly through Bill 115. This is what the Wynne government talks about when it says it can achieve what the PCs demand -- across the board wage freezes in the public sector -- using negotiation, rather than legislation.

This underfunding of the boards sets up a scenario whereby local school boards -- or their provincial bodies, if central bargaining proceeds as contemplated in Bill 122 -- would have to "negotiate" with teachers and education workers how to deprive existing programs and services of funding as a way to try and get around the government-imposed funding cut for grid movement.[1]

This is a continuation of the austerity agenda imposed with Bill 115 as school boards are forced into a situation of trying to balance government cuts with the needs of the students in their districts. This is unacceptable and illegitimate.

Before Bill 115, in the K-12 sector where employees are paid on a salary or wage scale requiring anywhere from one or two to ten or more years of experience before reaching the maximum rate for jobs they perform, collective agreements simply rolled over at their expiry date until a new one was in place. This arrangement favoured the working people. The understanding was that anyone eligible to move up a step on the existing salary scale could do so when this came due, with adjustments made retroactively to reflect any increases negotiated in the new contract.

But with Bill 115 the government smashed this kind of arrangement and imposed a new kind of contract that will "roll over" pay cuts rather than employees' right to move to the next step on their salary grids as they always have (pre-Bill 115) when a collective agreement expires and a new one is not yet in place. With the imposed contracts the government also imposed ongoing takeaways. It is a dangerous scenario in which teachers and education workers are being set up to fight with school boards and/or their provincial organizations -- with government having the last word if central bargaining occurs as the Liberals propose -- over how to implement austerity, while the government continues to steal funds from education to pay the rich. Already, however, the unions are rejecting this new round of dictate.

It is important that teachers and education workers take their own initiatives now to put themselves into motion so that they are not waiting to see how things will turn out in "negotiations" the government imposes. The government is clearly indicating that it plans to go in the same direction as last year, trying to first establish fraudulent parameters so you can't negotiate and then trying to get one or two unions to sign an agreement in order to create disunity in the ranks. In this way it seeks to have pessimissm and negativity take over rather than the spirit of resistance that allowed teachers and education workers to defend their dignity in the last round. The government is likely targeting elementary teachers for this blackmail due to their resistance last year. As a result of their opposition, the government was forced to promise that it would fund a 2 per cent increase in their wages to make-up for being arbitrarily penalized 2 per cent in previous negotiations because they didn't sign an agreement by an arbitrarily established government deadline.

Teachers and education workers reject being set up to try and get the wages and working conditions commensurate with the work they do by finding ways to cut services to students and/or other supports services, or privatize them. Teachers' and education workers' working conditions are students' learning conditions and only a backward government unfit to govern pits one against the other.

Local school boards and trustees should be encouraged to take a stand for their students and against the underfunding of education, which puts trustees in the position of becoming the hatchet women and men for the government so it can effectively steal public funds to use for its pay-the-rich schemes.

Notes

[1] The province provides funding to school boards based on a number of factors including the number of students and schools each board has, the high needs special education students of different types it must serve and some unique needs of rural and remote areas. The grants school boards receive for special education, for example, cannot be spent on anything but special education, unlike most other categories where school boards can exercise discretion when it comes to program and staffing decisions. However the government grants that fund education assistants, psychologists, social workers, speech and language pathologists, child and youth workers and other vital supports for special education students are not tied to the actual salaries and benefits of those who provide these services. This already has the effect of putting pressure on school boards to cut staff, contract out or privatize the services or engage in "rob Peter to pay Paul" strategies, pitting different programs, services and employees against one another to try and compensate for shortfalls in government funding to properly compensate those providing these necessary support services. This pressure is sure to increase with pay freezes continuing to be dictated by the government.

Elementary Teachers' Federation Re-Affirms
Illegitimacy of Imposed Terms

In a message to members, Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) President Sam Hammond indicated that upon prelimenary analysis there were two aspects of the Grants for Students Needs (GSN) that he wanted to highlight for members:

"The first is that, as negotiated in the ETFO MOU [Memorandum of Understanding], the differential in salary between ETFO teachers and other affiliates, which was established through benchmarks in previous GSN and corresponding GSN regulations, has been removed. That means the salary penalty imposed on ETFO members during the 2008 round of bargaining is eliminated, and ETFO teacher salary grids will be adjusted accordingly effective September 1, 2014.

"The second issue is that the Ministry has taken the position that the freeze provision related to movement on the grid on the 97th day will remain in effect until a new collective agreement is negotiated. We are working with legal counsel and CB [Collective Bargaining] staff to determine how the Ministry's interpretation might affect ETFO members. But I want to reiterate that ETFO's position on this matter is, and has always been, clear and consistent -- the 97-day delay in salary grid advancement is one of the OECTA [Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association] MOU terms and conditions imposed on ETFO members through Bill 115. ETFO does not accept that those imposed terms and conditions comprise a legitimate and fairly bargained collective agreement. Any future negotiations between ETFO and the government regarding compensation will proceed on that basis."

Austerity Agenda Continues With Education Funding

Today, the Minister of Education released the Grants for Student Needs (GSNs), the funding for all school boards in Ontario.

The government stated that the GSNs provide stable funding for school boards and include an increase in funding. The reality is that the GSNs contain shifted funding and not new funding. There is no additional funding for front line services and some boards may see a decrease in their funding for next year.

The funding in the GSNs announced today also does not provide funding for Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF/FEESO) members still on a salary grid to move up on that grid until the 97th work day for teachers or the 1/2 work year mark for support staff.

Regardless of the funding, OSSTF/FEESO fully expects school boards to respect the end of the agreed upon two-year restraint period and have salary grids move as they should on September 1, 2014.

Paul Elliott, president of OSSTF/FEESO stated, "It is difficult to understand why, despite assurances from the government that it has moved away from McGuinty's austerity agenda, the government has decided to extend the restraint period beyond the current collective agreement. OSSTF/FEESO members had significant concessions imposed upon them under Bill 115 which they may never recover from in their careers. It is not acceptable that education workers are once again bearing the brunt of the austerity agenda to help the government balance its books."

Elliott concluded, "The extension of this restraint period only serves to undermine the work and dedication of all of our front line workers to build a world class education system."

Bill 115 Charter Challenge Hearing Postponed

Earlier this month Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) and Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) updated their members on the Charter challenge to Bill 115. The update followed a meeting (case management conference) convened by the Ontario Court judge assigned to the case who brought together the lawyers representing the unions involved in the challenge (OSSTF, ETFO, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Ontario Public Service Employees Union) and those of the government.

According to OSSTF and ETFO members at the meeting, the Attorney General acting for the government, requested an adjournment of the June 2014 hearing dates set aside by the Ontario Court to begin hearing the Bill 115 Charter challenge based on the following two reasons:

1. Three cases similar in nature to [the] Bill 115 case are currently being argued before the Supreme Court of Canada. The Attorney General presented the argument that the law is currently changing on the meaning of the protections for collective bargaining and strike action under s. 2(d) of the Charter. The current cases before the Supreme Court will shape and form the law and will be very instructive to the Judge hearing [the] Bill 115 challenge. They argued that on a practical basis, the Court dates in June 2014 will be wasted because all parties will have to return following the Supreme Court's decision to address the updated law;

"2. Another union wishes to intervene in the Bill 115 Challenge. UNIFOR believes that it has a direct interest in the Charter Challenge because some of its members were affected by Bill 115. It has requested to join the proceeding and file materials, and wants some time to be able to do so."

ETFO said its lawyers had planned to present their case over five days in June but advised that those days would be wasted if the law subsequently changed based on the outcome of cases currently being argued on similar questions before the Supreme Court. Lawyers for both unions felt that Justice Himmel, who was assigned to hear the case in the Ontario Court, was likely to grant the government's request anyway based on these considerations -- which in fact he did.

ETFO and OSSTF both stated in their letters to members that while it was not known when the Supreme Court would release its ruling on the cases raising similar issues, they could well take eight or nine months, given that they were dealing with the complex issue of defining what protections unions and their members have under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms "to participate in free and fair collective bargaining and strike action without intrusive and oppressive government invervention."

It is likely that the Supreme Court cases that are expected to influence the Bill 115 Charter challenge include one brought by unions representing members of the RCMP in Ontario and British Columbia who maintain that a legislated reduction in their pay under the federal Expenditures Restraint Act violated their right to collective bargaining under the Charter. Another tentatively set to be heard in May is being brought by the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour over its contention that Freedom of Association must include the right to strike.

OSSTF informed its members that as a result of the ruling to postpone the hearing, the Bill 115 Charter challenge is now not expected to be heard for another year, likely in April 2015. This development shows the kind of accountability the Liberals stand for when it comes to workers rights. It also re-affirms the importance of teachers and education workers having their own intiative, rather than waiting for the government or the courts to affirm their rights.

In related news, the governments new provincial bargaining legislation, the School Boards Collective Bargaining Act, has been made the subject of a time allocation motion passed by the Liberals with the NDP abstaining, after the PCs stalled its progress at committee. Final hearings of the committee on amendments proposed will now be heard April 2 and 3 with the legislation being moved swiftly to third reading as the government hopes to have it passed before teachers and education workers are really able to sort out the significance of any amendments. Third reading debate will be limited to one hour.

At committee the PCs tried to move amendments that would make teachers voluntary extracurricular activities part of the definition of teachers' duties in the Education Act in order to prevent them from being used to oppose government dictate as took place in the last round. While the Liberals and NDP opposed this amendment neither has put forward amendments to the Bill which would explicitly preclude voluntary extracurricular activities from being made part of teachers duties. The Liberals opposition to this amendment is also a fraud given that they set up the Labour Board last year to rule that the coordinated withdrawal of extracurricular activities constitutes an illegal strike after it imposed contracts using Bill 115.

Vote to Oppose the Privatization of Health Care!

The Ontario Health Coalition has been holding referendum votes in selected cities across Ontario to give Ontarians the opportunity to express their opposition to the Wynne government's plan to cut clinical services from local hospitals and contract them out to private clinics. The referendum is being preceded by a door-to-door campaign across Ontario to encourage people to vote in favour of supporting local public hospitals and against cuts to services and privatization of health care. The main voting day will be Saturday April 5 with results being released April 7.

In its news release, the Ontario Health Coalition points out: "The provincial government passed two new regulations to enable it to cut and privatize public hospital clinical services. The government has never brought the issue to the Ontario Legislature for a vote and Ontario voters have never given the government a mandate to cut and privatize care from Ontario's Public Hospitals. Regardless, the government has issued guidelines for proposals to Local Health Integration Networks to begin the process of cutting and contracting out the services. They plan to finalize contracts by mid-summer."

I support our local public hospitals. I do not want the government to cut their services or contract them out to private clinics.

I support cutting services from our local public hospitals and contracting them out to private clinics."

As of March 27, over 10,000 people have already voted, well on the way to the Coalition's target of 50,000 across the province.

Commenting on the referendum, Natalie Mehra, Executive Director of the Ontario Health Coalition, underlines the importance of stopping the privatization of health care services. She says: "This is a very real threat to single-tier public Medicare in Ontario. In British Columbia and Quebec, where private clinics have been allowed to propagate, patients are being illegally charged more than $1,000 for an MRI, more than $20,000 for hip surgery and more than $1,000 for cataract surgery, in violation of the Canada Health Act. Already in Ontario where there are private clinics, the government is doing nothing to stop clinics that are charging illegal user fees in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars for services that are supposed to be covered by our public health plan: services we already pay for in our taxes and for which patients should never be billed."

Ontario Political Forum encourages everyone to participate in the referendum to put governments on notice once again that health care is a right and that people will not accept any pretext for the dismantling of public health care services, which are needed for their well-being, in their communities. With a possible upcoming provincial election, it will be another demonstration that governments do not have a mandate for implementing more of the anti-social austerity agenda.

Locations for Voting and Getting Involved

Ottawa contact Marlene Rivier, Tel: 613-222-8392 or Al Dupuis, 613-808-7710
Perth and Smiths Falls contact John Jackson, Tel:613-285-4048
Thunder Bay contact Jules Tupker Tel: 807-577-5946

Public Servants Overwhelmingly
Vote for Strike Action

Public Servants Overwhelmingly Vote for Strike Action

The Working People's Fight for Rights Holds Government to Account

Stand as One Against Government's
New Attempts to Dictate Austerity!

Elementary Teachers' Federation Re-Affirms
Illegitimacy of Imposed Terms

Austerity Agenda Continues With Education Funding

Bill 115 Charter Challenge Hearing Postponed

Vote to Oppose the Privatization of Health Care!

Locations for Voting and Getting Involved

Public Servants Overwhelmingly Vote for Strike Action

Public Servants Overwhelmingly Vote for Strike Action

The Working People's Fight for Rights Holds Government to Account

Stand as One Against Government's New Attempts to Dictate Austerity!

Elementary Teachers' Federation Re-Affirms Illegitimacy of Imposed Terms

Austerity Agenda Continues With Education Funding

Bill 115 Charter Challenge Hearing Postponed

Vote to Oppose the Privatization of Health Care!

Locations for Voting and Getting Involved

Public Servants Overwhelmingly
Vote for Strike Action

Stand as One Against Government's
New Attempts to Dictate Austerity!

Elementary Teachers' Federation Re-Affirms
Illegitimacy of Imposed Terms