With a look of steely determination, Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions signed off of the historic press conference of Monday, November 7 with the stirring refrain, “The people united will never be defeated.” The line, borrowed from the now famous democracy anthem written in support of the Chilean people fighting fascism, captured perfectly the spirit of solidarity and determination that animated the CUPE education workers’ mobilization against the province’s draconian Bill 28.
Passed on Thursday, November 3, Bill 28 imposed a three-year contract on the province’s 55,0000 education workers, among the lowest paid public employees in Ontario. Annual raises were capped at between 1.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent, far less than the rate of inflation, less than current private sector wage increases, and — after years of painful wage restraints — far less than workers needed to support their families and live with dignity. Not surprisingly, many education workers relied on second jobs and food banks to make ends meet.
More shockingly, Premier Ford invoked the notwithstanding clause to pass the bill, meaning that the workers could not challenge the bill in court or legally strike, an arbitrary violation of their constitutionally protected labour rights. With all eyes on them, and under the threat of fines so steep they would have devastated the union, on November 4 the workers took to the streets launching what many expected to be a long and bitter confrontation with the province that pitted education workers against parents with students hanging in the balance.
Yet astonishingly, only four days later, a chastened Premier Ford promised to rescind Bill 28 and return to the bargaining table, so long as the workers- who by this point it was clear to all, if ever in doubt, were absolutely essential to the functioning of the school system – returned to work.
READ MORE: Bill 28 is an act so unconstitutional it comes with the notwithstanding clause
The news, delivered by a triumphant Walton at the CUPE press conference, was viewed far and wide as a victory for labour and for Canadian democracy. Within this victory, we believe, lay important lessons that extend beyond this specific collective bargaining dispute.
CUPE’s education workers’ mobilization succeeded because it was an ever-widening moral campaign, rooted in specific calls for justice. With a membership that is 70 per cent female and comprised of significant numbers of racialized workers, CUPE centered the structural vulnerabilities of the workers in their showdown with Ford, as well as the very real equity issues at stake.
Years of government-imposed wage restraints, the union argued, had contributed to the worsening of the gender wage gap in Ontario. The previous Bill 124 had similarly limited wage increases in the female-dominated health and education sectors, but at the same time had exempted male-dominated police and firefighters. The time had come to make up lost ground for the lowest-paid workers performing critical yet undervalued work supporting student wellbeing.
The campaign put income inequality in its deeply gendered and racialized manifestations on trial – one picket sign read “Ford & Lecce: Pick on Someone Your Own Wage”- all but guaranteeing that Ontarians struggling with inflation and declining real wages would make common cause with the workers.
The stories of injustice and the blatant targeting of some of the province’s most vulnerable workers propelled Ontarians, some for the first time ever, into the streets to express solidarity with the workers. Large contingents of parents who saw their children’s well-being aligned with CUPE’s goals and who are naturally inclined to dislike bullies, whether in the schoolyard, or in government, rallied to the workers’ support.
Panicked but determined parents typed their postal codes into the CUPE Picket Line Finder and, with their children in tow, descended on the closest picket line or joined the masses of people at Queen’s Park marching side-by-side with the workers. Working into the wee hours of the night, angry but energized parents wrote letters to their MPPs, signed petitions and organized through their Parent Councils.
The justness of the workers’ cause similarly engendered significant support across the labour movement, with private sector unions that had supported Ford rushing to be on the right side of the battle (and also, of course, rightly worried that if there were no consequences to Ford for his use of the notwithstanding clause to suppress labour rights, their unions would be next).
Workers and unions not directly affected by the dispute donated funds, criticized the government, attended demonstrations, and moved toward a general strike in support of educational workers.
One of the most poignant moments and insights from the mobilization came at the end of the protest, during the November 7 press conference, when a journalist asked Walton if she thought that higher wages would increase the likelihood that women members who were living in abusive domestic relationships might be able to leave.
The question was an important one, given that we know domestic abuse has increased during the pandemic, and that women frequently cite lack of resources as a factor for staying in abusive relationships.
Walton responded that while she had lost her voice over the course of the mobilization, her mother had told her not to worry because thousands of other women workers had found theirs.
Moving the focus from her own leadership to that of the women unionists whose activism sustained the mobilization, Walton illuminated an important truth: union building and union activism is often incredibly empowering and, regardless of the outcome, can resonate well beyond the specific workplace fight at hand.
That CUPE school staff raised their voices, loudly, and on a very public stage against an opponent so powerful and arrogant that he believed he was above the Constitution, cannot help but rebound more broadly in the labour movement and beyond, inspiring other workers to use their voices and collective power to defeat bullies.
CUPE’s centering of women- as workers, as activists and as breadwinners- and the justness of the union’s demands sparked broad public and labour support that forced the Premier to blink.
CUPE stared down the government by fighting not only its own battle, but also a battle for the rule of law, quality public education, and good jobs and rights for all workers.
Of course, there is still a contract now to be negotiated. But the people have spoken. They want fair wages for all education workers, an end to low-wage job ghettos for women and racialized minorities, investment in public education, and no arbitrary interference with workers’ constitutional rights.
CUPE is now offering Premier Ford an opportunity to forsake coercion for democracy. For the sake of two million school children in Ontario, we hope he takes the high road. If not, workers, unions and the public now know how to take on a bully and win.
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