CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn Credit: CUPE Ontario
Doug Ford is not a friend of the working class. Doug Ford is a scab!
Yes, I borrowed that from United Auto Workers (UAW) president Shawn Fain. It’s from Fain’s rousing speech delivered on the first night of the Democratic National Convention. Bravo and thanks Shawn!
So, why do I believe Ford and his government are scabs?
Well, when Ford talks about education he never mentions professors, teachers, support or custodial staff. And, lets face it, when it comes to speaking to those workers, Ford is absent from the table.
Rotating high school teacher strikes in early 2020 had minimal impact on student learning and was intended to put pressure on the Ford government to improve student to teacher ratios.
When Ford talks about healthcare he talks about cutting wait times by increasing access to private clinics, downloading patients onto pharmacists and private nurse practitioners, but never addresses robustly funding doctors, nurses, hospital dietary services, maintenance workers, registered practical nurses, engineers, clerical staff, and ambulance and paramedical personnel, as well as workers in nursing homes, long-term residential care (LTRC) facilities and community care access centres.
CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn with Natalie Mehra, Executive Director of the Ontario Health Coalition Credit: CUPE Ontario
When 55,000 education workers went on strike in September 2022, it was to improve student to educational assistant ratios but also to improve their poverty level wages.
Those workers were never asking for the 50 per cent increase Ford claimed. Rather, over the last decade education workers had seen their wages fall more than 11 per cent in real terms.
And, using Ford’s own budget predictions for the next four years, education workers would have fallen another 10 per cent behind by 2026.
Education workers were asking for a $3.25 per hour increase. Less than an artisanal cup of coffee that, at their current rate of pay, they were hard pressed to afford.
Municipal workers who maintain roads, operate water and sewage plants, perform clerical and technical duties, install and repair traffic lights, deliver social services, maintain our parks, pick up garbage and keep our streets clean have also been under attack from the Ford government.
When municipal workers were locked out by the Township of Black River-Matheson they were negotiating to retain an existing one-year probationary period for new hires after which new hires receive the full wage rate instead of accepting management’s proposed grid system that would create a five-step system with new hires getting four per cent with each step before reaching the full-time rate.
Once that strike officially started in January 2024, advertisements were placed to hire scab labour to fill nine of the fourteen strikers’ jobs and two city managers were reportedly been charged with harassment and assault among other offences.
The Ford government could have ensured that anti-scab legislation was reintroduced or they could have voted for NDP MPP Jamie West’s anti-scab legislation. Instead, on November 27, 2023 the Ford government voted against West’s anti-scab legislation after its second reading.
Social service workers who ensure the health and economic well-being of communities, through community agencies and by providing child care, developmental services, child protective services and municipal social services have also been the target of Ford’s destructive policies.
The Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa was recently on strike. Once again, the strike was not to increase wages for workers, it was over the insanity of the funding model put in place by the Ford government.
Ottawa CAS policy mandates that fewer children be brought into care and that is a good thing because kids are placed with kin or neighbours rather than going into foster care.
However, funding for the agency is based on the number of kids actually in care. That means, as the number of kids in care goes down so does core funding which means staffing cuts through layoffs or attrition. But those workers are needed to ensure the kids find suitable placements and to routinely check on their safety.
Ford is also quietly increasing the number of children being placed in private for-profit centres that have a history of abuse and bad outcomes. Here the full story on Rabble Radio.
That strike ended on August 6, 2024. Meanwhile, after nearly two years of bargaining, Kinark Child and Family Services workers, serving Peterborough and Northumberland County, voted to strike due to growing caseloads and shrinking resources.
For years, young people languishing on waitlists have known that all is not right at Kinark Child and Family Services. Workers, too, have felt the burden of growing caseloads and shrinking resources. Now, with a resounding strike vote, everyone who cares about the well-being of children and families in Peterborough and Northumberland County should be paying attention.
All of the workers that I referenced are members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). It’s Canada’s largest union in the country’s largest province.
With over 290,000 members, CUPE Ontario is a strong voice for rights and fairness for its members and their communities.
CUPE works at the provincial level for legislative, policy and political change on issues affecting public services, equality, healthy communities and a better Ontario for everyone.
CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn stands in solidarity with CUPE 3906 members from MacMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario Credit: CUPE Ontario
Today, I’m very excited to be speaking with CUPE president, Fred Hahn about the reality that Doug Ford and his government are not creating policy or making investments that benefit the working class or improve the lives of Ontarians.
In fact, under Ford we are seeing an unprecedented loss of the public commons. And, Ford is able to do this because the conservatives got a majority government with only 18 per cent of the voting population handing them 70 per cent of the seats and 100 per cent of the power.
Have a listen and find out why CUPE Ontario president, Fred Hahn, and I are certain that when unionists come together in solidarity we have real power to implement meaningful change for our members, our families and our communities.
Going into the next election, Doug Ford and his government of scabs should be very, very afraid.
Thanks to everyone who read today’s article and listened to my podcast. With your continued support, a little Nicoll can make a lot of change.
Music: Real Estate by UNIVERSFIELD is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License. freemusicarchive.org.
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CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn speaks truth about the power of union solidarity!