Winter OFL Action Report
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VOLUME 10 // ISSUE 1 WINTER 2020 SPECIAL FEATURE: Women's Caucus honours Carrol Anne Sceviour for 30 years of activism PAGE 19 OFL statement on Flight PS752 PAGES 5-6 OFL NEWS: Repeal Bill 124 PAGE 03 Resolutions carried at the OFL Convention PAGE 12 EQUITY: The OFL stands in // Patty Coates is the first Solidarity with Education woman to be elected Unions President of the Ontario PAGE 7 Federation of Labour PAGE 11 // OFL OFFICERS WINTER 2020 VOLUME 10 // ISSUE 1 PATTY COATES President SUBSCRIBE TO THE OFL E-NEWSLETTER BY TEXTING THE WORD “OFL” TO 647-496-5602 AHMAD GAIED Secretary-Treasurer OFL NEWS 02 // Message from the President 08 // Ryerson University decision an assault on democracy 11 // Patty Coates is the first woman to be elected President of the Ontario Federation of Labour JANICE FOLK-DAWSON 12 // Resolutions carried at the OFL Convention Executive 13 // Ontario’s unions rally against Conservative cuts 14 // OFL/AIL Scholarship winners Vice-President 15 // OFL Convention 2019 Awards 22 // Hassan Yussuf: Canada’s unions stand behind Ontario’s teachers 22 // Power of Many Labour Honour Roll Inductees 23 // Power of Many delegates talk Climate Emergency The Ontario Federation of 25 // An Ontario For All: OFL Pre-budget submission Labour represents 54 unions 26 // Matthew Green Inspires Power of Many Convention Delegates 27 // Power of Many panel highlights women supporting women in and one million workers. It is the labour movement Canada’s largest provincial 28 // Young Workers’ Forum dissects the gig economy labour federation. 30 // The labour movement MUST respond To refugee crises around the world Volume 10, Issue 1 of the OFL ACTION REPORT was produced POWER OF MANY for the January 2020 meeting 03 // Coalition of Unions launches Charter challenge and aggressive of the Executive Board of the campaign to repeal Bill 124 Ontario Federation of Labour. EQUITY 09 // Gentrification is Environmental Racism ONTARIO FEDERATION OF LABOUR 18 // March 8 Project celebrates 10 years of supporting women (OFL) – FÉDÉRATION DU TRAVAIL DE 19 // Women’s Caucus honours Carrol Anne Sceviour for 30 years of L’ONTARIO (FTO) activism for equity 21 // The Green Square Campaign 15 Gervais Drive, Suite 202 27 // OFL delegates mark the International Day for the Elimination of Toronto, Ontario M3C 1Y8 Violence Against Women 416-441-2731 // 1-800-668-9138 TDD: 416-443-6305 HEALTH & SAFETY 17 // Spotlight on Prevention Link FAX: 416-441-1893 24 // The burden of occupational disease continues for individuals, [email protected] families, and many Ontario communities SOLIDARITY This document was proudly 04 // The Ontario Federation of Labour calls on Canada to demand the produced with unionized labour return of Bolivia’s democratically elected government cope343 05 // Statement on the deaths on Ukrainian International Airlines Writing/layout: OFL Communications Flight PS752 07 // The OFL stands in Solidarity with Education Unions 20 // Legal Aid cuts undermine justice for Ontarians 1 // OFL ACTION REPORT // LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT @PATTYCOATES FRIENDS, Welcome to 2020, a year when our solidarity is more to worsen the quality of education in Ontario, and the important than ever in Ontario. Inequality is not inevitable. privatization of our valued public services. It is Conservative It is a political choice that the Conservative government policies that have led to the dire situations reported in local continues to perpetuate, and the labour movement is hospitals that face dangerous levels of overcrowding. It’s demanding the PCs change course and build an Ontario time that public services are properly funded and workers’ for all. rights are respected in this province. I am honoured to have been elected to lead the OFL in this February is African Liberation and Black History Month, important time. We are moving into the next two years with and the OFL Legacies Series is celebrating Janice Gairey’s reinvigorated committees, escalating actions, and ever- 50-year legacy of activism, and calling for an end to strengthening connections with labour councils across the what Dr. Grace-Edward Galabuzi has named economic province. Together, we will resist conservative cuts. apartheid, and for affordable housing for all. It has been an eventful few months since the OFL We have also launched the tenth anniversary March 8 Convention. The labour movement is strong in its solidarity. Project. Pins, posters, and a commemorative box set of In January, we mourned together for the 176 people who ten beautiful pins to inspire activists and commemorate the perished on Ukrainian Airlines PS752. Many of those killed campaigns and gains we have made for women. were members of affiliated unions. The OFL grieves with As we continue our important work, I want to thank our labour family and every family who lost loved ones on everyone for your dedication and commitment to building that flight. the strength and solidarity of the labour movement in Education unions are holding the line to protect public Ontario. It is only together that we can move mountains. education in Ontario. The OFL has launched a campaign to Repeal Bill 124 along with supporting affiliate efforts and facilitating a Charter challenge on behalf of a coalition In Solidarity, of unions to protect the right to free and fair collective bargaining. Power of Many escalating actions against government cuts are building our power. We are more than equal to the challenge we face from the Conservatives, who cut the services we all depend on, while making sweetheart deals with the wealthy and Patty Coates big corporations. The labour movement will protect public services across Ontario and preserve and improve quality of President, life for families and in communities across the entire province. Ontario Federation of Labour February 22, Ontario’s Conservatives will be holding their policy convention in Niagara Falls, and we will be there in force to demand they change their ways. It is // FOLLOW AND RETWEET OFL AT: Conservative policies that took away the $15 minimum wage. It is Conservative policies that made deep cuts to @OFLabour and @PattyCoates autism programming. It is Conservative policies that seek WINTER 2020 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 1 // 2 // LETTERPOWER OFFROM MANY THE PRESIDENT COALITION OF UNIONS LAUNCHES CHARTER CHALLENGE AND AGGRESSIVE CAMPAIGN TO REPEAL BILL 124 Unions representing more than 250,000 thousand affected broader public sector employees are launching a charter challenge to Bill 124. They will also be initiating an aggressive campaign to repeal Bill 124. “The workers of this province, represented by their unions, will not allow Bill 124, which erodes the Charter rights of every worker The Coalition announced an aggressive campaign to repeal Bill 124. in Ontario, to stand uncontested,” said Ontario Federation of Labour President Patty Coates. “The OFL stands in solidarity with the education Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, which violates unions that have recently launched the Charter’s protected right to free and fair collective bargaining. their challenges to the application of Bill 124 in the education sector, as “In 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized that the freedom of association we escalate the opposition to this guarantee in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides constitutional government’s continued attack on protection for a meaningful right to collectively bargain, and for the right to strike,” the Charter rights of all Ontarians. said Steven Barrett of Goldblatt Partners, counsel for the union coalition. Together, we are launching an “By failing to respect these fundamental constitutional rights, Bill 124 runs aggressive campaign to demand roughshod over free collective bargaining, and fails to respect what every the Ford Conservatives repeal this experienced negotiator understands: the collective bargaining parties themselves unconstitutional legislation.” are best able to negotiate agreements that reflect fiscal and workplace priorities ONA launched a charter challenge to and realities.” Bill 124 the same day, and OPSEU As Barrett added, “these restrictions on free collective bargaining cannot be justified launched their challenge on January 9. by the government’s manufactured fiscal crisis, or by its desire to cut taxes when Ontario Labour is united in their call Ontario already has the lowest social spending per capita of any province.” on the Conservatives to repeal Bill “This challenge is about defending workers’ rights protected under the Charter of 124, euphemistically named the Rights and Freedoms,” stated CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn. “When the 3 // OFL ACTION REPORT // POWER OF MANY // SOLIDARITY THE ONTARIO FEDERATION Ford Conservatives demand that resulted in the establishment of the we must all do our part, instead middle class. Middle class families OF LABOUR CALLS ON of targeting working people the are the backbone of our province CANADA TO DEMAND THE government should be taxing and country, and it is fundamentally RETURN OF BOLIVIA’S profitable corporations and the wrong to strip them of their collective wealthiest in our communities. bargaining rights,” said Marty Warren, DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED Charter rights matter, human rights Director of United Steelworkers GOVERNMENT matter, workers’ rights matter.” District 6. “The USW and its engaged Bill 124 allows the government membership are aggressively pushing The OFL stands in opposition to impose compensation caps, back on this one-sided legislation. to the ongoing