ONTARIO trade unionists and their families rallied in Toronto on Saturday to demand good jobs, public services, workers’ rights and the recall of the legislature.
The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) urged members and supporters to send an email to Ontario’s political parties demanding equality and democratic rights for everyone.
The OFL said: ‘The Ontario government has been shut down while worker’s rights are under threat and cuts to jobs and services are hurting every community.
‘It’s time to defend everyone’s democratic and economic rights.’
The Rally for Rights and Democracy took place at the at the Ontario Liberal Convention
Demonstrators rallied at Allan Gardens in Toronto (Jarvis & Carleton), before marching to the Ontario Liberal Convention at Maple Leaf Gardens.
A pre-rally leaflet said: ‘Help develop an action plan that will drive social change and create an Ontario that is fair and equitable for everyone.
‘The Ontario government has been shut down while workers’ rights are under threat and cuts to jobs and services are hurting every community.
‘The 2012 Ontario Budget slashed funding and threatened thousands of jobs that are essential to the delivery of vital public services that support every community.
‘Meanwhile the Ontario Liberal government maintained corporate tax cuts that continue to bleed $15 billion from the province every year.
‘This fall, McGuinty’s Liberals, with the backing of Tim Hudak’s Progressive Conservatives, passed Bill 115 – an unprecedented law stripping educational workers of their most basic democratic rights.
‘By cheating teachers and educational support staff of the right to strike and the right to bargain collectively with their employer, the Liberals and Conservatives have established a precedent that threatens the rights of every worker in Ontario.
‘Now the Ontario Legislature has been prorogued while public services and workers’ rights continue to hang in limbo.
‘However, with a provincial election on the horizon, workers and community members across the province can demand new priorities for Ontario that put people ahead of corporate profit.
‘The Ontario Federation of Labour and community allies have launched a campaign to defend the democratic and economic rights of everyone.
‘The campaign will bring the fight for rights and democracy directly to the doorstep of every Member of Provincial Parliament in the lead-up to the Ontario Election.
‘Get involved in the campaign! Help build labour-community coalitions in every community!
‘Mobilise for January 26 to defend the democratic and economic rights of everyone!’
Meanwhile, the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation has dismissed Premier Christy Clark’s proposal for a 10-year labour deal.
The federation said last Thursday: ‘Premier Christy Clark’s proposed plan for a 10-year deal with public school teachers ignores court rulings, contradicts government’s own legislation, and risks scuttling a positive bargaining framework on the eve of its expected ratification by the BC Teachers’ Federation and the BC Public School Employers’ Association.’
‘The premier’s plan is flawed in a number of significant ways,’ said BCTF President Susan Lambert.
‘The key problem is that it ignores the ruling of the BC Supreme Court that teachers have the right to bargain working conditions, such as class size and class composition.
‘The Liberals’ own Bill 22 also allows for these issues to be negotiated in this round but her new plan requires teachers to give up this hard-won right.
‘Over the past decade, when Liberal policy regulated learning conditions, class sizes grew and support for students with special needs suffered,’ Lambert said.
The BC Teachers Federation (BCTF) stressed: ‘As a consequence, BC has the worst student-educator ratio in the country, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada.
‘In order to bring BC’s teacher staffing levels just up to the national average, the province would have to hire an astounding 6,800 more teachers.
‘Another major problem is the indexing of teachers’ salaries to average increases of other government employees.’
‘This is fundamentally unfair because it effectively prohibits teachers from negotiating for their own salaries,’ Lambert said. ‘Under such a scheme government has all the cards. The average of net zero is zero.’
BC teachers’ salaries are lagging far behind those of other teachers in Canada, and the gap will only widen under this plan, she added.
Lambert questioned the government’s timing on Thursday’s announcement, given that it came one day before the beginning of the BCTF’s Representative Assembly and the BCPSEA’s annual general meeting.
Representatives of both organisations are slated to vote on a new Framework Agreement which offers a positive process for the upcoming round of bargaining.
‘In recent months we’ve quietly had productive conversations with the employer about how to achieve a smoother more effective round, and it’s most unfortunate that government chose to intervene at this time,’ Lambert said.
The BCTF added: ‘On the surface the premier’s rhetoric sounds conciliatory after more than a decade of conflict between the BCTF and the BC Liberals but, in reality, her plan is yet another effort to severely limit teachers’ constitutional right to bargain.’
l The union representing faculty at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish has said that it will strike today.
St. Francis Xavier Association of University Teachers (AUT) president Peter McInnis said in a news release on Friday morning: ‘The association remains committed to achieving a fair and equitable settlement at the bargaining table.
‘We have concluded, however, following a careful review of the offer on the table that our members are now prepared to undertake strike action in support of the AUT negotiation team.’
The AUT said it has asked for ‘reasonable salary increases,’ ‘modest improvements to health benefits, pensions,’ longer terms for those on contracts of less than a year and funding for professional development.
St. Francis Xavier AUT represents more than 400 members engaged in teaching and research, ‘over one third of whom are vulnerable due to precarious, limited-term contracts and limited benefits,’ their news release said.
It added: ‘The administration’s offer to date is below recent Atlantic university settlements and well below the cost-of-living.’
The union has been without a contract for eight months. Four previous attempts at conciliation have failed.
The AUT, as of two weeks ago, was seeking pay increases of 2.5 per cent annually over four years, as well as expanded benefits and less reliance by the university on eight-month contracts for many of its faculty and staff.
The university’s offer two weeks ago was 6.9 per cent spread over over four years. The offer was rejected by the union.
The university said the difference between the AUT and administration’s offer was $3.4m over the life of the contract.
