November is Woman Abuse Prevention month. It’s a time to raise public awareness and provide education while empowering women to make changes that improve their lives.
This year, it’s time to shine the light on abuse targeted at women by the Ford government.
Whether it’s midwives, nurses, education workers, early childhood educators (ECE), personal support workers (PSWs), teachers, or cashiers earning minimum wage, female-identifying and dominated work forces have been under attack from the Ford government since its inception.
The ultimate goal of an abuser is to maintain power and control over their victim. When women living with abuse fight back — as in the case with educational workers demanding a decent standard of living –the abuse escalates exponentially. Think Ford invoking the Notwithstanding Clause when passing Bill 28.
Abuse takes many forms and the Ford government is certainly deft at using them all.
Financial abuse
Financial abuse involves withholding money and concealing financial information from the victim. Ford gave over $1 billion to parents; cut over $1 billion from the provincial revenues by cancelling the license sticker fees; is spending hundred of thousands of dollars in court battles; and still managed to bank a $2.1 billion surplus in the last fiscal year.
Yet, the Ford government has failed to make court ordered payments, including back pay, to midwives after losing a 2018 court case and a 2022 appeal that upheld the original ruling.
Nurses and teachers had their pay increases capped at one per cent for each of three years when Ford passed Bill 124. The bill not only restricts workers’ ability to negotiate but also their fundamental constitutional rights to free collective bargaining under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Ford failed miserably at rolling out $10-a-day-child care. This affected all working women with infants and young children, but impacted racialized, marginalized, single-parent and low-income female earners hardest.
ECEs are generally paid minimum wage – especially in for-profit centres that want to maximize returns. Two years ago, child care advocates called for a floor of $25 per hour for ECEs. There’s been no movement on the part of the Ford government to increase ECE wages at all despite an exodus of workers from the field.
Going forward, ECEs need a living wage floor and for increases to reflect career advancement, improved credentials and inflation.
PSWs are still waiting on the $2 per hour pay increase guaranteed by the Ford government in March. They are actually experiencing a pay deficit thanks to inflation and the inability of the provincial government to meet its promises and obligations to these essential workers.
Often the same LTC corporation hires a PSW to work at two or three of its LTC facilities. That makes her a part-time worker at three locations, but for one employer. That way employers avoid paying benefits. The Ford government needs to implement a pro-rated benefit plan for PSWs to put an end to this scam.
Bullying education workers to live on poverty wages forces many to work second jobs and use food banks to make ends meet. That is financial abuse.
Not providing all workers with 10 paid sick days annually is financial abuse. An additional 10 paid sick days should also be implemented during a pandemic.
Financial abuse is meant to be long and drawn out in order to wear down resolve. Working multiple jobs with precarious hours, little to no benefits, no overtime and low pay keeps workers too busy and distracted to organize and fight back. The Ford government has perfected this tactic.
Environmental abuse
Environmental abuse in the context of government policy would look like failing to provide funding for infrastructure. That takes the shape of the provincial government providing insufficient funding for constructing new schools to meet the needs of population growth. Teachers are then tasked with accommodating over capacity classes, using inadequate facilities like portables, and compensating for the lack of access to labs, gyms and niche facilities.
Under funding hospitals resulting in shortages of staff to care for patients, run essential equipment, or provide vital emergency room and surgery services is environmental abuse. Ford simply expects staff to pick up the slack and get the work done.
The list of environmental abuses includes providing insufficient personal protective equipment and COVID tests in hospitals, schools and LTC facilities; promising, but not providing air purification systems for schools or air conditioning in LTC homes; rescinding masking mandates in schools, hospitals and LTC facilities putting staff and everyone else in these buildings at risk.
Psychological and emotional abuse
Psychological and emotional abuse includes threats; constant criticisms; public shaming; the silent treatment; put downs disguised as jokes; treating workers like children or property; gaslighting; and threatening to take away their jobs through privatization.
According to Michael Spratt, Partner Certified Specialist (Criminal Law), this is not a position that should make anyone think Ford is being reasonable or engaging in good faith compromise.
Spratt believes, “There is something deeply ironic and disingenuous about Ford promising not to act unconstitutionally if CUPE and their supporters voluntarily give up their constitutional guaranteed freedoms. Whether it is avoiding a summons to testify at the Public Order Emergency Commission or overriding municipalities to pave over protected green space, Ford has shown that the rule of law means nothing to him. This is Ford’s pathology and it is finally time he pays a political price for the damage he is inflicting.”
In his press conference on November 7, Ford failed to mention that CUPE members pay $5,000 annually for their ‘generous pension’ which will pay them $300 per month for every five years worked up to a maximum of $1,200 when they retire.
He didn’t mention that CUPE members have $1,700 deducted annually for long term disability (LTD) coverage. Some members don’t have access to LTD because it’s entirely on members to pay which makes it massively unaffordable for the lowest paid education workers.
Ford also failed to tell the public that over the last decade education workers have seen their wages fall more than 11 per cent in real terms. That means education workers have less discretionary income than they had a decade ago. And, even less to no disposable income for a little bit of roses with that bread.
And, using Ford’s own budget predictions for the next four years, education workers could fall another 10 per cent behind by 2026 unless there’s a significant correction to their wages.
Ford’s claim that teaching assistants, secretaries, library technicians and janitors are demanding a 50 per cent increase was an out right lie. His numbers just don’t add up. It’s consummate gaslighting of workers and the public.
In fact, all of the costing and data behind the OSBCU Central Bargaining Proposals have been available to the public on the OSBCU website.
Education workers are asking for a $3.25 per hour increase. Less than an artisanal cup of coffee.
Ford’s claim, “That’s money we need for schools, health care, transit and infrastructure. It’s money we need for vital services that hard-working people of this province rely on,” is a lie of epic proportions.
Ford routinely cut spending on education, health care, transit and infrastructure throughout his time as Premier. And, to imply that CUPE workers do not provide vital services and are not hard-working people is abominable.
Physical abuse
Physical abuse has very visible signs. Preventing women from eating or sleeping; refusing to help when she is sick, injured, or pregnant; withholding medications or medical treatment are all forms of physical abuse.
The Ford government has made it so that PSWs, ECEs and education workers have to use of food banks to avoid going hungry and to feed their families.
They are often sleep deprived from working second jobs and the strain of constant worry.
A lack of unpaid sick days also falls under this umbrella because if you don’t work you probably won’t eat or be able to pay the rent so you can’t afford to stay home and take care of yourself when sick or injured on the job.
Verbal abuse
Verbal abuse, the most common form of abuse, often overlaps with emotional abuse. Name calling; put downs; threatening; blaming; and dismissing feelings. It often leaves a woman feeling like she is walking on eggshells. Ford certainly has done that in spades.
Cyberbullying involves the use of social media; websites; text and instant messaging to intimidate, harass victims and share untruths about the victim.
“We are doing everything we can to keep students in class, and that’s why today we asked CUPE to meet us back at the table and presented a more generous offer,” tweeted Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education – an extension of Ford in this example.
He went on to tweet, “Because CUPE refuses to withdraw their intent to strike, in order to avoid shutting down classes we will have no other choice but to introduce legislation tomorrow, which will ensure that students remain in class to catch up on their learning.”
This tweet, a combination gaslighting, blaming, and threatening, fed misinformation to the public while publicly shaming workers who have been negotiating in good faith.
Manipulating children and leveraging them for their own personal gain is classic abuse. Add to Ford’s list manipulating elders living LTC, patients in hospital, pregnant and birthing mothers.
Ford’s abuse of workers in female dominated fields has absolutely escalated in severity, frequency and scope during his time in office.
Ford may tell the public that he’s doing his best and cooperating during negotiations, but his actions speak louder than his words.
Any honeymoon phase with abusers quickly passes and workers in female dominated fields will once again feel the wrath of Ford’s serial abuse while he smiles and tells the public that he’s doing everything he can to make things better.
Case in point, Ford said he will repeal Bill 28 on Monday, November 14. Instead of doing it immediately he has left the threat of severe repercussions hanging over CUPE members who no longer have any leverage to strike for a full week.
He said on CBC radio news on November 9 that CUPE needs to ‘put some water in their wine,’ a euphemism for slow down when it comes to repealing Bill 28. Really Doug?
He also stated in the same clip that he needed to differentiate between educational workers who earn less than $40,000 per year and those that earn $100,000 per year. I want to know exactly how many educational assistants across the province earn that $100K annually because in my lived experience not a single one does. Yet, education workers are the very backbone of the education system and absolutely deserve that kind of remuneration.
The effects of Ford’s abuse will be life-long for all female workers and their children. The effects will also be life long for Ontarians impacted by Ford’s choices to paint female dominated work as less than and as undeserving of a decent standard of living with fully funded benefits and decent, safe working conditions.
CUPE asked supporters to wear purple in a show of solidarity. It just so happens that purple is also the official colour for woman abuse prevention month. Wear your purple scarves, socks, shirts, skirts and jackets proudly this November to send the Premier Doug Ford, and the various ministers involved in these abuses, the message that abuse of women workers in Ontario will not be tolerated. Let’s paint Ontario purple!
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Nick Seebruch, editor
