Shifting Gears is out now!
This is my 7th book collab with
@stephross_mac
. We are extremely proud of Shifting Gears and humbled by the positive reviews the book is receiving.
Thank you to Wayne Lewchuk for the endorsement!
Learn more:
#canlab
#cdnpoli
Ford claims that CUPE education workers going on strike is worse than his decision to invoke the notwithstanding clause.
Imagine thinking that people exercising their legal rights is worse than extinguishing people's rights.
#canlab
#onted
#onpoli
Ford blinked. He saw parents and other unions mobilizing to support CUPE education workers. He saw poll numbers suggesting the public blamed his government for the dispute. He saw unprecedented public support for a general strike – and he backed down.
#canlab
#onpoli
#onted
I can 100% confirm that this claim by Ontario's Minister of Education is fabricated. It's part of a broader pattern of falsehoods & wild exaggerations that have, ironically, undermined the government's ability to secure a deal and keep students in school.
#onted
#onpoli
#canlab
This Fraser Institute infographic unintentionally promotes the benefits of unionization by comparing an employee in a largely unionized occupation with an employee in a largely non-union occupation. We call this the "union advantage."
#canlab
Make no mistake about it: Lecce is deliberately peddling in misinformation as part of the collective bargaining process. Glad to see media outlets are finally starting to hold him accountable.
#canlab
#onpoli
#onted
Doug Ford's dramatic decision to invoke the notwithstanding clause to preserve election advertising limits that were deemed unconstitutional should really tell you something about the threat he thinks groups like labour unions pose to his re-election chances.
#onpoli
#canlab
Laura Walton argues that the the working conditions of
@osbcucscso
members are directly correlated to student learning conditions. The union is focused on hammering out a deal that will reverse cuts and deliver services for students.
#onted
#canlab
#onpoli
Grocery store workers literally put their lives on the line for their employers during the pandemic and now they can't even afford to pay the rent. Workers are fed up. They're demanding more and they're using the right to strike to do that.
#canlab
Collective bargaining with education workers is FAR from over. A tentative deal must be ratified by members, but given lack of improvements, workers
may democratically reject the deal in the ratification vote and send their leaders back to the table.
#onted
#canlab
#onpoli
In advance of voting later this month, the Executive of OSSTF Toronto Teachers’ Bargaining Unit has unanimously passed a motion opposing the voluntary binding arbitration pathway pursued by OSSTF/FEESO.
#onted
#canlab
Counting on the courts to protect labour rights was always risky, but if govts are going to start using the Notwithstanding Clause to override Charter rights, legal strategies become even less effective for the movement. Political action is the way forward.
#canlab
#onpoli
🧵OSSTF’s leaders are trading the right to strike for binding interest arbitration. Here's why that's a problem for teachers and the entire labour movement.
#canlab
#onpoli
Much ink has been spilled in recent weeks over union endorsements for Ford's Conservatives in Ontario - and what that may mean for the future of labour politics in Canada. Here's a 🧵.
#canlab
#onpoli
#cdnpoli
Leo Panitch’s work inspired me to pursue a PhD. I was fortunate to become one of his students and to be able to work alongside him. He helped me navigate the highs and lows of grad school. He was brilliant and he was kind. Rest in power,
#LeoPanitch
.
To ratify or not to ratify? That is the question facing CUPE education workers in Ontario this week.
I provide some background and outline what's at stake in this thread.🧵
#canlab
#onted
#onpoli
Ontario’s 55,000 education workers, members CUPE, have sent a clear message to the Ford govt with a 96.5% strike vote. The union is determined to reverse years of cuts and secure a fair wage increase for workers who are paid on avg just $39K/year.🧵
@osbcucscso
#canlab
#onpoli
More pushback from
#OSSTF
members concerned over leadership's deal with Ford government.
The fact that Lecce seems to be the biggest proponent of the deal appears to be rubbing a lot of union activists the wrong way.
#canlab
#onted
Rather than roll the dice on interest arbitration, education unions should be coming together in a coordinated, strategic & solidaristic manner and using their collective bargaining power to compel the provincial government to reinvest in the province's teachers and students.
In their defence of class sizes and quality public education, Ontario's teachers' unions are promoting the public good. Caving in to Ford's reckless cuts only invites more cuts in the future.
#StayStrong
#canlab
#onpoli
#CutsHurtKids
In order for education workers to fully win, the province's teachers' unions will need to step up and back up bold statements of solidarity with bold labour/political action. Union solidarity and cooperation is key to combatting Ford's divide and conquer strategy.
#canlab
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union says its 8,000 education workers will walk off the job Friday in solidarity with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, whose 55,000 education workers are set to strike.
Most working-class people are not in unions. The problem with the NDP's strategy is that it tends to conflate the "union" & "working-class" vote. Poilievre is focused on the latter, while the NDP is focused on the former.
#canlab
#cdnpoli
Trading in the right to strike for binding interest arbitration sets a dangerous precedent because it normalizes the idea that the right to strike is unnecessary. That kind of thinking demobilizes unions and leaves teachers very vulnerable to future attacks on conditions of work.
What OSSTF's leaders are proposing undermines the bargaining position of all the other unions in the sector and thus helps fuel the Ford government’s divide and conquer strategy. At a time when unions should be working together, this move only strengthen's the government's hand.
This from a govt that purports to fight for the middle class. Port employers made over $100B in profits last year, but refuse to offer workers job security or wage increases that make up for high inflation. Imposing a settlement is capitulation to corporate greed.
#canlab
Last night, the membership of the ILWU Canada voted to reject the tentative agreement with the BCMEA.
While our BC ports are operating right now, we need long-term stability.
My full statement:
I spoke with CBC News about why Metro grocery store workers across the GTA voted down a tentative agreement and opted to strike instead.
In the face of record profits, striking
@UniforTheUnion
members are demanding their fair share.
#canlab
There may be a tendency in some quarters of the labour movement to view tentative agreement rejections as a failure, but they’re a sign that workers are willing to strike rather than opt for substandard deals.
#canlab
Interest arbitration may be seductive given recent awards in healthcare, but arbitrators are unlikely to agree to any union demands framed around supports for students. So while the deal keeps kids in school, it doesn't guarantee them quality schools.
A union’s power is rooted in its membership. Farming out the process of securing a contract to an arbitrator cuts the workers out completely. OSSTF members won't even have an opportunity to vote on a final settlement if imposed by the arbitrator.
Seven years ago today, we lost Peter Kormos. He was an NDP icon and warrior for the working class. A committed democratic socialist, Kormos was one of the most colourful political personalities in the history of Ontario politics.
#canlab
#onpoli
#ONDP
#OSSTF
District 9 Teacher Bargaining Unit advises members of risks associated with supporting the proposal to trade the right to strike for binding interest arbitration, calls for solidarity with other education unions.
#onted
#canlab
Hamilton Labour Council to submit emergency resolution to the
@OFLabour
convention next month requiring the Federation to break ties with the Ontario NDP unless decision to remove MPP Jama from caucus is reversed.
#canlab
#onpoli
The delegates of the HDLC have been emailed the following Notice of Motion for our November Council meeting on behalf of the HDLC Executive. Should the motion be adopted, the HDLC will be submitting it as an emergency resolution to the
@OFLabour
Convention in late November.
Strike action can be contagious. If the Metro strike is successful, it will definitely have a ripple effect across the rest of the sector, raising expectations along with wages.
#canlab
#MetroStrike
Ford overplayed his hand by unnecessarily suspending basic union rights and freedoms. It backfired. By refusing to negotiate and imposing a legislated settlement the PCs managed to unify a group of unions that had been internally divided.
#canlab
#onpoli
#onted
Metro made all-time high profits of over $922 million last year. By rejecting the tentative agreement and opting to strike the workers are signalling they have raised expectations and are demanding more from both their employer and union.
#canlab
Another high profile rejection of a tentative agreement. This time, by grocery store workers represented by Unifor who had previously voted 100% of favour of a strike mandate.
#canlab
Ford overplayed his hand with regard to back-to-work legislation and the Notwithstanding clause. Education workers appear to be winning over public support for their political strike.
#onpoli
#canlab
Ontario - 'Who do you blame most for schools being closed due to the strike?'
Ford Government: 62%
Education Workers: 38%
Abacus Data / November 5, 2022 / n=545 / Online
For context, the 8 construction unions that endorsed Ford have a combined membership that represents less than 5% of Ontario's total union membership. The NDP secured support from a broader range of much larger public and private sector unions.
Massive layoffs.
Workplace outbreaks.
Hazardous conditions for front-line workers.
Covid19 has exposed lots of new challenges for workforces.
Brock University's
@Prof_Savage
says the pandemic may lead to more workers demanding better wages and conditions from employers.
An attack on one, is an attack on all. Those who walked before us fought long and hard to earn the right to bargain freely, and LIUNA Local 3000 will join the fight to protect that right.
Blaming unions for your own economic insecurity is not the answer. Standing together, working-class people & their unions are stronger and can demand more from the wealthy & corporate interests.
#canlab
#1u
Minister Lecce's penchant for bargaining in public hinders the government’s ability to secure negotiated settlements because his rhetoric is often inflammatory and, therefore, sows distrust in the bargaining process.
#canlab
#onpoli
#onted
The
#OSSTF
deal with Lecce undermines the bargaining position of all the other unions in the education sector and helps fuel the provincial government’s tried and true divide-and-conquer labour relations strategy. It's a minefield.
#onted
#canlab
Strategic voting has changed the face of contemporary party-union relationships in Canada. While the specific calculus for strategic voting changes with each election, the strategy offers very little to the labour movement over the long term.
#TweetThead
#canlab
#cdnpoli
Workers at Vancouver animation house Titmouse have voted 98 per cent in favour of unionizing in what could be a watershed moment in the local animation industry.
#1u
#canlab
Striking grocery workers’ fight for fair wages will move to round-the-clock secondary picket lines at Metro distribution warehouses in Toronto.
More info to follow.
More than anything, today's victory by CUPE education workers will give confidence to other unions and union members to stand up and fight back when confronted by an intransigent employer.
#onted
#canlab
#onpoli
Ontario Federation of Labour and a number of key affiliates aligned with the Ontario NDP are pushing the party to delay its leadership vote until Feb 2023.
#canlab
#onpoli
The Metro strike is about money. But it's also about respect. Having pandemic pay yanked away sent a very clear message to Metro workers that their labour wasn’t being respected.
#canlab
#MetroStrike
If anger towards "union leeches" was redirected at billionaire bank CEOs, a renewed brand of working-class politics would fundamentally alter our political and economic system.
#canlab
#cdnpoli
#1u
.
@OPSEU
President
@JPHornick
clarifies that the union movement is not standing down, but standing by. Unions are committed to seeing a fair deal for all workers in bargaining with the Ford government.
#onted
#canlab
#onpoli
Interested in learning more about the union advantage? Here are the latest figures from Stats Canada pulled together in a graph for my latest book with
@stephross_mac
. In short, the union advantage applies in both public and private sectors.
"Strikes are one of the few tools workers have to redistribute wealth and rebalance an economy whose rewards have become utterly out of balance. And that is good for the economy as a whole." --
@stephross_mac
#canlab
#1u
Ford is bargaining in public this morning, but his comments are mostly aimed at the teachers' unions. These kinds of shots across the bow are unlikely to serve the govt well in future negotiations.
#onted
#onpoli
#canlab
Yet another tentative agreement voted down by Unifor members. That makes three in just the past few weeks. Contract rejections are not unheard of, but they’re certainly not this common.
#canlab
What Ford is NOT saying is that he will rescind Bill 28 or that he'll never invoke Sect 33 in the future to end a labour dispute. In other words, he is not addressing the main concerns of the union.
Unifor has managed to extend the core components of its agreement with
#Metro
to
#NoFrills
. That's a major accomplishment that will likely have positive implications for all grocery store workers, both union and non-union.
#canlab
The workers have higher expectations given inflation and the cost of living crisis. Having the best contract in the sector means nothing if you still can’t pay for rent, or bills, or food from the very grocery store where you work.
#MetroStrike
#canlab
Walmart workers are testing positive for
#COVID19
, but Walmart has stopped providing them with pandemic pay. This is pure corporate greed. Walmart workers need unions, paid sick days, and their pandemic pay restored permanently.
#canlab
#cdnpoli
Payne says she was in contact with
@CanadianLabour
before today about the prospect of having
@UniforTheUnion
rejoin the House of Labour. Will explore the possibility further in consultation with members.
#canlab
Anti-scab legislation levels the playing field and brings the focus back to the bargaining table where negotiated settlements are reached.
#canlab
#cdnpoli
Among other things, the Bill 28 debacle demonstrates that legislative attempts to ban strikes don't actually prevent workers from striking. In fact, they make illegal strikes more likely. Free and fair collective bargaining is not the problem.
#onpoli
#canlab
#onted