"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
What's with the Ontario Federation of Labour - are they in the back pocket of the Liberals as well?
Fri, 2014-05-02 14:18
#1
What's with the Ontario Federation of Labour - are they in the back pocket of the Liberals as well?
Fri, 2014-05-02 14:19
#2
Just askin'
Fri, 2014-05-02 14:22
#3
Whatever happened to a progressive labour movement?
Fri, 2014-05-02 14:25
#4
Caissa,
Precisely!
Whatever happened to a progressive labour movement?
Fri, 2014-05-02 14:25
#5
Oh, maybe they're worried about a little thing called "right to work." Maybe they're worried about other worker protections and rights that could be eroded. Maybe they don't rank electing a new New Democrat at the top of their priority list. Silly, I know.
Fri, 2014-05-02 14:26
#6
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Fri, 2014-05-02 14:28
#7
Maybe their leadership has lost touch with the vast majority of rank and file union members.
Who knew!
Oh, maybe they're worried about a little thing called "right to work." Maybe they're worried about other worker protections and rights that could be eroded.
Fri, 2014-05-02 14:30
#8
Whatever happened to a progressive labour movement?
Whatever happened to a progressive political party?
Fri, 2014-05-02 14:32
#9
It really is time for the NDP to turn to the Left.
Fri, 2014-05-02 14:43
#10
Most likely, the OFL leadership is braindead!
BTW josh, excellent talking points. You are well trained. 
Fri, 2014-05-02 15:32
#11
Pogo
We shouldn't get too judgemental of other posters. Some look at the issues from the union movement perspective and some look from the political party perspective. Both are legitimate. Unfortunately often these days they are at cross purposes. I think it is more important to look at the issues rather than spend our time villifying the other sides. Josh is an ally that you disagree with.
Sat, 2014-05-03 12:19
#12
Missing Bob White
Unifor may have a large membership but their current leadership is seriously out of touch.
Very sad to see this kind of stupidity coming from labour leaders.
Liberals are masters at trying to create fear amongst the population.
In Quebec they have exploited the national unity issue for decades - what are they going to do now in Quebec to create fear amoungst the voters?
And in Ontario same thing - the world will come to an end if the PCs get elected.
Yes, the Liberal world will come to an end, that's fore sure. 
This is the same ole tired corrupt Liberal party who think they are entitled to their entitlements.
Buzz Hargrove anyone?
Ontario heading for election next month as NDP rejects budget
A June election is a certainty after NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said her party could not support the budget tabled by Premier Kathleen Wynne’s minority.
Only Warren (Smokey) Thomas, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), said the NDP should join with the Progressive Conservatives in toppling the Grits.
Thomas took shots at his fellow union leaders after Horwath’s news conference for saying the NDP should support the budget, which also gives $4 hourly raises to personal support workers in the home care system.
“They’re afraid of Tim Hudak,” Thomas said of the Progressive Conservative leader whom he called “anti-union.”
“I’m not afraid of Tim Hudak,” Thomas added, saying Unifor president Jerry Dias “supported the budget without reading it” and “I’m disappointed in Brother Ryan,” a reference to the OFL president
http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2014/05/02/ontario_heading_for_el...
Sat, 2014-05-03 12:26
#13
If the only criteria for people you miss is that the salute the Party of God no matter what.... I think there are plenty of replacements around for the hole in your heart.
Sat, 2014-05-03 14:37
#14
Only Warren (Smokey) Thomas, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), said the NDP should join with the Progressive Conservatives in toppling the Grits.
"I'm behind Andrea Horwath and the NDP and their decision not to support the Ontario Liberal budget," said Marty Warren, United Steelworkers (USW) Ontario Director."As Andrea said, it's time for a change in Ontario. We're tired of Liberal scandals and corruption. We're tired of Liberals who over-promise and under-deliver," said Warren. "Unlike our current premier, workers in Ontario live in the real world. Workers know that Andrea speaks for them."
"NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is on a roll. She's been winning by-election after by-election, doubling the size of the NDP Caucus since she became leader in 2009," said Ken Neumann, USW National Director.
"We know Tim Hudak is no friend of working people. His anti-worker policies would harm our economy and cause unnecessary instability," said Warren.
"The people of Ontario will soon have a choice. For working people in Ontario, that choice is clear: Andrea Horwath and the NDP," said Warren.
"All the goodies in this budget are a tired Liberal ploy for votes. The people of Ontario deserve better. Andrea Horwath will work hard for jobs and affordability. She's a leader we can trust," said Warren.
Sat, 2014-05-03 14:43
#15
Maybe their leadership has lost touch with the vast majority of rank and file union members.Who knew!
The majority of the rank and file don't vote NDP.
Sat, 2014-05-03 14:51
#16
Yup Wilf, that's the Liberal Toronto Star for you. They will be pimping for their beloved Liberals 24/7 throughout the campaign.
Many rank and file members feel differently than their union leaders, and will be quite involved in the NDP campaign.
Andrea Horwath: the bravest person in Ontario (or maybe she’s just counting on the others to mess up)
Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne, facing her first campaign at the head of her party, has a poor record to defend. The Liberals have 10 years of mistakes and sloppiness to hold them back. They fancy themselves the party of progress and they’ve dreamed big — and blown it again and again.
-- They overspent massively trying to digitize Ontario’s health records, including sweetheart contracts for Liberal-connected consulting firms.
-- They did a $9.7-billion deal with Samsung to juice the green-energy industry in Ontario, which they were proud of, and they scaled the agreement back to $6 billion. Now they’re proud of that, too.
-- They let the province’s air-ambulance system mutate into a poorly controlled public-private outfit called ORNGE that blew vast amounts of public money on private luxuries for its top executives.
-- They underestimated the costs of holding the Pan-Am Games in Toronto in 2015, an event overseen by a board chaired by Liberal former premier David Peterson.
-- We still don’t know just who knew what when it came to cancelling two gas-powered generating stations west of Toronto before the last election. (Happily for the Liberals, a quick election call precludes hearing from key witnesses before a legislature committee over the next couple of weeks.)
-- They’re presiding over a budget deficit that keeps going up instead of down. They say they’re investing in economic growth because the economy is fragile and simultaneously boasting about how great the economic recovery they’ve presided over has been.
Even if you like the Liberals’ other work in their three terms — family doctors are easier to get, full-day kindergarten solves a lot of problems for young families and transit is better funded even without Wynne’s marquee infrastructure program, to name just a few things — they have an appalling record of managerial incompetence.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Andrea+Horwath+bravest+person+Ontario+maybe...
Sat, 2014-05-03 15:15
#17
Hudak is a good jokester if nothing else.
PC Leader Tim Hudak touts party's economic plan after election call
Kathleen Wynne calls for June 12 election after PCs, New Democrats refuse to support budget
Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak said he thinks NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said no to the Liberal government's 2014 budget only because unions told her to.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/pc-leader-tim-hudak-touts-party-s-economic...
Sat, 2014-05-03 17:24
#18
OnTheLeft
Maybe their leadership has lost touch with the vast majority of rank and file union members.
Who knew!
The irony, considering this statement is a perfect description of the ONDP leadership.
Most likely, the OFL leadership is braindead!
BTW josh, excellent talking points. You are well trained.
Now the irony is off the charts, considering that the ONDP leadership is braindead, and that you are very well trained in regurgitating NDP spin on this message board.
Sat, 2014-05-03 17:34
#19
Hudak is a good jokester if nothing else.
PC Leader Tim Hudak touts party's economic plan after election call
Kathleen Wynne calls for June 12 election after PCs, New Democrats refuse to support budget
Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak said he thinks NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said no to the Liberal government's 2014 budget only because unions told her to.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/pc-leader-tim-hudak-touts-party-s-economic...
Hudak made a point of attacking "big government unions," thereby melding two Republican attack lines into one. In six short weeks, they may become more than attack lines.
Sat, 2014-05-03 18:05
#20
Ever hear of Warren "Smokey" Thomas?
Sat, 2014-05-03 18:13
#21
[url=http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/trish-hennessy/2014/05/ontario-budget-20... CCPA weighs in:[/url]
You may be forgiven for feeling like you already know what's in the 2014 Ontario budget -- it had more leaks than a sieve in the weeks leading up to budget day.There weren't really any big surprises in the budget, but reading it in its entirety makes one thing crystal clear: the Wynne government is getting election battle ready.
...
Ontario hasn't exactly entered a brand new post-austerity world, which leads me to this conclusion: Budget 2014 could be worse, but given the multiple pressures facing Ontarians, it most certainly could be better.
Sat, 2014-05-03 18:28
#22
Tks for the link A24
And page 154 of the budget shows a chart illustrating how Ontario's public sector wage settlements are well below those in the private, federal and municipal sector average increases.
Secondly, in case you're wondering how a government can cut so much in public service spending and still grapple with a lingering $12.5 billion deficit in 2014, the answer lies in the cumulative revenue loss in 2013 to the spate of tax cuts implemented from Mike Harris on down. Ontario lost $19 billion to cumulative tax cuts in 2013.
The budget documents say total revenue in 2013-14 is estimated to be $1.19 million below the amount projected in the 2013. Why? "The decrease is largely due to lower taxation revenues."
And guess what? There are more tax cuts to come, which should make Bay Street happy: cuts to the Corporate Income Tax rate for large and small businesses, the elimination of the Capital Tax and removing embedded sales taxes for businesses amount to a loss of $9 billion in revenue per year. Page 320 of the budget describes it as "savings to businesses."
In terms of new spending, the big-ticket item is a long-term investment in infrastructure repairs and expansion -- something the province has spent too long avoiding and the jig is up. We'll be talking infrastructure spending for years to come. The danger is that the infrastructure improvements will come at the expense of investments in public services and turn into a boon to the private sector by way of public-private partnerships (now dubbed Alternative Financing and Procurement). Page 80 of the budget says the government is now engaged in 80 such projects.
Sat, 2014-05-03 23:26
#23
radiorahim
Contrary to what you might think North Report, the role of the labour movement is not to simply deliver votes to the NDP, it's to represent the interests of the working class.
We used to think that was the role of the NDP too, but since Horwath, that's no longer the case. Horwath has chosen to throw the poorest paid workers, social assistance recipients etc. under the bus. Why? So they can win maybe win three or four more seats.
Horwath's leadership has been so horrible, that she has created a situation where the Liberals are now able to "out left" the NDP.
Yes the Liberal moves are cynical and designed to get people's minds off their scandals. But I don't give a rat's ass about what is motivating them. What was on the table in the budget was the first stab at substantively improving pensions in half a century. I checked the Ontario NDP website and there hasn't been a single press release on pensions since 2010.
There were also substantive pay increases for PSW's, some of the lowest paid and most essential workers in the health care sector. This is something that healthcare unions have been campaigning on for years. What has the Ontario NDP website had to say about PSW pay? Nothing that I can see. The last mention of PSW's was five years ago...about PSW's being denied H1N1 shots. This is certainly a worthy issue, but nothing about their pay.
The ONDP has had next to nothing to say about public transit. There was a "consultation paper" in December, 2012. More recently there is vague talk about small corporate tax increases...how much? Not stated. How much of this unstate corporate tax increase will go to public transit? Not stated.
At least the Libs put some money on the table. Will a lot of it get eaten up in P3's and other scams? I'm sure a fair bit of it. But at least there's a plan. Even disgraced Rofo had a "subways, subways, subways" plan...totally stupid, but a plan.
Horwath had nothing to say for the longest time about the minimum wage increase. Then she decided to consult small business first...I assume via the Niagara by-election. And then came up with a plan on the minimum wage that is marginally better than the Liberal plan.
So in the "Let's Make a Deal" game we know what's behind door number one...a modest move away from the austerity agenda and some gains for the working class. What's behind door number two? Who knows. And behind door number three we pretty much know is extreme right-wing Scott Walker style union busting.
So given this scenario it's not surprising that the bulk of trade unionists prefer door number one.
Will I be voting for my NDP incumbent on election day? Of course. But it will be with no enthusiasm at all and I will be holding my nose while doing it.
Sun, 2014-05-04 01:29
#24
Pogo
If this was an NDP budget it would have been dismissed by all the regular naysayers. Now that it is last gasp Liberal budget everyone is holding onto it like it is the Holy Grail. It is amazing how easily people can become strategic and short term. Prop up the Liberals for another year, give them a chance to rebuild their brand. A few baubles to buy some temporary support. Play up the boogy man Conservative.
In the end it is Blue Cat and Red Cat and the budget is only a gambit to maintain their hold on power.
Sun, 2014-05-04 16:03
#25
I guess Unionist has special privileges here, and can break the rules about opening threads on the same topic.
Sun, 2014-05-04 16:05
#26
What Pogo said.
radiorahim,
I think you are being quite unfair, it's complex, and Andrea has to get elected first.
We all know the mainstream media is very forceful in protecting the Liberals and Conservatives. but people have to reflect on all the noise out there. The NDP asked 3 things of the Liberals and they did come through. Why in the world do people think they will deliver on 70 promises?
When was the last time anyone was even talking about rthe possibility of the NDP forming government in Ontario? I'm not saying Andrea will this election. I hope she does, but it might take a couple of elections for that to happen.
Having said that radiorahim, I always appreciate your posts.
Sun, 2014-05-04 16:24
#27
I guess Unionist has special privileges here, and can break the rules about opening threads on the same topic.
Sorry, I must have missed the other thread on trade unions being in the Liberals' back pocket. Go ahead and close this one, with my apologies.
Sun, 2014-05-04 20:47
#28
If this was an NDP budget it would have been dismissed by all the regular naysayers. Now that it is last gasp Liberal budget everyone is holding onto it like it is the Holy Grail. It is amazing how easily people can become strategic and short term. Prop up the Liberals for another year, give them a chance to rebuild their brand. A few baubles to buy some temporary support. Play up the boogy man Conservative.
In the end it is Blue Cat and Red Cat and the budget is only a gambit to maintain their hold on power.
A great observation.
Sun, 2014-05-04 22:14
#29
radiorahim
In the end it is Blue Cat and Red Cat and the budget is only a gambit to maintain their hold on power.
But now we have a mouse who has swallowed Dr. Jekyll's formula. The formula turns the mouse into an orange cat who squeaks like a mouse whenever it wants money or volunteers.
I'm saying this as someone who has been an NDP member for most of the last 35 years...and also as one who has been a campaign worker to some degree or another in pretty much every municipal, provincial and federal during that period. I'm also someone who defended Jack Layton pulling the plug on Paul Martin. Hindsight being 20/20, I think I was wrong.
I see very few people other than died in the wool NDP partisans who are defending Horwath. Just about every other progressive voice I know is livid.
Sun, 2014-05-04 22:55
#30
..powerful words. txs radiorahim!
Mon, 2014-05-05 00:00
#31
In the end it is Blue Cat and Red Cat and the budget is only a gambit to maintain their hold on power.But now we have a mouse who has swallowed Dr. Jekyll's formula. The formula turns the mouse into an orange cat who squeaks like a mouse whenever it wants money or volunteers.
I'm saying this as someone who has been an NDP member for most of the last 35 years...and also as one who has been a campaign worker to some degree or another in pretty much every municipal, provincial and federal during that period. I'm also someone who defended Jack Layton pulling the plug on Paul Martin. Hindsight being 20/20, I think I was wrong.
I see very few people other than died in the wool NDP partisans who are defending Horwath. Just about every other progressive voice I know is livid.
Somebody in a different thread posted a comment on Facebook by Rosario Marchese, and he is one of the few elite politicians who actually get it: this election will not be decided in Toronto, but in swing seats in other parts of the province, places like the 905, southwestern Ontario, London, Kitchener, and the North. Hudak does not need any seats in urban Toronto to win, he knows that, so he's going where he can. Just as progressive voters need a viable candidate to stop a PC candidate, there are also voters who have problems with Liberal scandals who want a viable option to stop the Liberals. That used to be the PCs, but thanks to hard work in Kitchener, London, and Niagra Falls, those Liberal seats did not fall to the PCs. I know the media in Toronto gives a particular impression of the world, but not only does it fail to reflect the reality outside of Toronto, it doesn't reflect the reality within the city as well. They misjudged the mood of the citizenry of Toronto in the 2010 election, and for their denial of the class reality in this country, in the last federal election the party that denies that there is such a thing as class (the Liberals) placed third in overall seats.
As for progressives being livid? How in touch are they with their membership and the general public? The effort to recall Scott Walker was led by unions, and yet somewhere around the area of 38% of union households voted for Walker. That may look stupid on the surface, but why did communication break down that badly that union members, those with much to lose, voted against what their leadership was telling them? If a labour movement is that badly divided within itself, how can it present a credible voice to the general public? Do these union leaders also not hear what people are saying about the scandals of the Liberal government? What happens if next year voters are so fed up with the Liberals that they vote in a PC majority (possibly under a leader more saleable than Hudak) at the expense of both Liberal and NDP MPPs, and undoing whatever good may have been accmomplished in this budget?
Having said that, that's not to excuse any backsliding or ignoring of issues that Horwath may have done. I said before that she needs to step up her game, go beyond the gimmicks, and offer a comprehensive, social-democratic program that Ontarians can buy into. I hope she's up to that task.
Mon, 2014-05-05 00:46
#32
radiorahim, regarding social assistance rates, please see this post of mine.
Mon, 2014-05-05 01:41
#33
Lord Palmerston commented quite recently that already very few union members vote for the NDP.
Anyways WK is entertaining if nothing else.
DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN
http://warrenkinsella.com/2014/05/dewey-defeats-truman/
In the end it is Blue Cat and Red Cat and the budget is only a gambit to maintain their hold on power.But now we have a mouse who has swallowed Dr. Jekyll's formula. The formula turns the mouse into an orange cat who squeaks like a mouse whenever it wants money or volunteers.
I'm saying this as someone who has been an NDP member for most of the last 35 years...and also as one who has been a campaign worker to some degree or another in pretty much every municipal, provincial and federal during that period. I'm also someone who defended Jack Layton pulling the plug on Paul Martin. Hindsight being 20/20, I think I was wrong.
I see very few people other than died in the wool NDP partisans who are defending Horwath. Just about every other progressive voice I know is livid.
Mon, 2014-05-05 03:13
#34
In the end it is Blue Cat and Red Cat and the budget is only a gambit to maintain their hold on power.But now we have a mouse who has swallowed Dr. Jekyll's formula. The formula turns the mouse into an orange cat who squeaks like a mouse whenever it wants money or volunteers.
I'm saying this as someone who has been an NDP member for most of the last 35 years...and also as one who has been a campaign worker to some degree or another in pretty much every municipal, provincial and federal during that period. I'm also someone who defended Jack Layton pulling the plug on Paul Martin. Hindsight being 20/20, I think I was wrong.
I see very few people other than died in the wool NDP partisans who are defending Horwath. Just about every other progressive voice I know is livid.
[Edit]The effort to recall Scott Walker was led by unions, and yet somewhere around the area of 38% of union households voted for Walker. That may look stupid on the surface, but why did communication break down that badly that union members, those with much to lose, voted against what their leadership was telling them? If a labour movement is that badly divided within itself, how can it present a credible voice to the general public?
Moreover, the movement against Walker only really began to collapse when the union leadership opted for a "political" strategy of trying to oust Walked through recall and demobilizing their membership, in a staged political fight between Democrats and Republicans, and taking them off the streets.
The union leadership here is too fond of trying to game the system through well worn "political" means, as opposed to forthrightly representing its members interests, regardless of who is in power.
Here too, the union movement is suffering from a serious lack of public support because of the preception that it is tied to a corrupt and incompetent government out of self interest. It is not just the NDP that is getting dragged down in the negative imaging of being so closely linked to Liberal party fortunes.
I would hate to imagine the outcome of the inevitable labour struggle that would fallow a Hudak majority victory in a years time where the PCs had not merely rejected the Liberals, but rejected the labour movement that has tied itself to the Liberal raft, when Hudak is making this a central campaign issue.
In that fight, which would happen no where else but on the job, and in the streets and in the court of public opinion, Hudak would be entering into the fray with a clear mandate to demolish the labour unions. Contributing to that formula, by giving Hudak ammunition to support his view that corruption in the Liberal Party is tied directly to a corrupt relationship with the "big bad government unions", is doing nothing but eroding public support for labour, and labour needs that public support to beat Hudak in the court of public opinion, should he come to power, with a majority.
Moreover, this relationship just gives the Liberals even more power to yank the union chain, just as it did in 2012 with Bill 115. There are not a lot of teachers champing at the bit to canvas for the Liberals. Former OSSTF President, Ken Coran's by-election campaign was rocked by OSSTF members who specifically came out of the wood work to campaign against him, because they feld he was playing both sides of the fence, during negotiation.
You are right that a lot of union members are not voting NDP, but this does not mean they are voting Liberal, many will be voting PC, despite what their leadership says because they are disgusted and embarassed by all these shameful antics.
OPSEU and Steel did their members and the rest of us a favour by refusing to go along with this nonsense, yet again.
Mon, 2014-05-05 17:01
#35
Andrea said on Metro Morning that the Libs are moving in the direction of privatizing the TTC . The Liberals deny this, but the Amalgamated Transit Union seems to echo the same concerns. Their ad against the Liberals is very good.
Anyway, seems the Amalgamated Transit Union is on board with the NDP, which is good.
Mon, 2014-05-05 17:57
#36
Sounds like Jerry want to go to the Senate! 
Advantage Horwath
http://warrenkinsella.com/2014/05/advantage-horwath/
--------
580
Mon, 2014-05-05 18:52
#37
Sounds like Jerry want to go to the Senate!
Advantage Horwath
http://warrenkinsella.com/2014/05/advantage-horwath/
--------
580
You bet I do! There's no life like it!
