This week on rabble radio, editor Nick Seebruch sits down with CUPE Ontario president Fred Hahn to discuss the recent momentum in the labour movement in Canada.
Hahn last joined rabble radio in November last year when CUPE Ontario’s negotiations with the Doug Ford government were stalling. CUPE Ontario was demanding better wages, more support services – and the Ford government wasn’t budging. Instead, Ford invoked the notwithstanding clause to force a contract on the union and effectively wipe away its bargaining rights.
In the days that followed Hahn’s interview on rabble radio, CUPE Ontario’s 55,000 education workers as well as some local chapters of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF) and the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) all went on strike. In the end, Ford blinked, and labour won.
Today, Hahn reflects on the impact of this historic labour action from last November, why it’s so important for the labour movement to be at the forefront of social justice issues, and what CUPE Ontario is focused on today.
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