JUNE 18, 1996 – June 24, thousands of workers from the Peterborough area will bring much of the area’s economy to a halt. Peterborough will be the fourth Ontario city in six months to be brought to a halt by a one-day general strike. Organizers expect most municipal services to be shut down. Early morning pickets will be thrown up to shut down the locks. Thousands of supporters will come in from cities in the province. It will be the largest protest ever seen in the area. And now we have an opportunity to move from city-wide actions to a…
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Writings prior to December 2007.
MAY 14, 1996 – One of the strongest poles inside the NDP is formed by the so-called “pink paper” unions. Leaders of 12 major unions – a grouping nick-named “pink paper” because of the colour of the paper on which they printed a statement at the 1993 OFL convention[1] – co-signed a document August 30 last year titled “Toward the renewal of social democracy in Canada.”[2] These unions include the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union (HERE), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) and the United Steelworkers of America (USWA).…
Comments closedAPRIL 1, 1996 – A planned Toronto fund-raising party for the five-week old Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) strike last Saturday, turned into a celebration. The 500 strikers and supporters who turned out at the Music Hall were there to celebrate the solidarity which had forced the Tories to back down. The tentative agreement, reached hours before, had been ratified by an overwhelming 95% of the OPSEU members who voted.[1] On the Monday, contingents of strikers formed up outside their workplaces, marching into work as a bloc with their heads held high. This was not the outcome the Tories…
Comments closedMARCH 4, 1996 –If day one of the Hamilton Days of Action was a smash success, day two, Saturday February 24, was awe-inspiring. Organizers anticipated an anti-Tory demonstration of between 50,000 and 70,000.[1] Either figure would have made it the largest ever anti-Harris demonstration in Ontario. Wayne Marston, president of the Hamilton and District Labour Council, wouldn’t predict a number, except to say that it would be “broader” than the events in London.[2] By the end of the day, somewhere between 100,000 and 120,000 had tramped through the mud and streets of an eerily quiet downtown Hamilton to vent their…
Comments closedJANUARY 21, 1996 – The hearings on the Ontario Tories’ Bill 26 (Omnibus)[1] are being met with jeers, catcalls, pickets and protests. January 19 in Hamilton, chanting and placard-carrying protesters twice brought hearings to a standstill. “Protesters chanted, ‘No more health cuts,’ and ‘Hands off health care,’ and carried signs that read, ‘popular democracy, not party dictatorships’.”[2] Even a cursory examination of the bill shows why there is so much emotion. The Tories’ presented the bill as if it were a little bit of housecleaning that would not need public hearings. More like house demolition. The bill itself is over…
Comments closedJANUARY 21, 1996 – Saturday January 13, the New Year picked up where the old year left off in Ontario – with a massive mobilization against the Tories. Organizers were anticipating a turnout of 20,000,[1] which would make it the largest anti-Tory demo to date. On the day, it was at least that large. Marilies Rettig, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA) which called the demo, said: “We’re out here, 20,000 strong, to tell this government that their cuts will decimate education as we know it.”[2] The police estimate – 25,000 – was even higher.[3] Some put…
Comments closedJANUARY 8, 1996 – In London, Ontario on December 11, 40,000 unionized workers stayed away from their jobs illegally in a coordinated protest against Mike Harris and his Tory cutbacks agenda. It was a labour mobilization on a provincial scale that we have not seen since the 1983 strikes against the Social Credit government in BC. The last national mobilization was in 1976 when Canadian workers led by the Canadian Labour Congress organized a one-day strike against Pierre Trudeau’s wage controls policy. In weather that was minus 40 with the wind chill, 16,000 marched through the streets of London, Ontario…
Comments closedDECEMBER 5, 1995 – The speed with which support for the December 11 shutdown of London built has been fantastic. The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) say that they have 25 to 30 buses to carry workers from plants in the area into London itself on the day. Another 25 to 30 busloads of supporters are being organized through the Labour Council of Metropolitan Toronto and York Region. Contingents are being mobilized from Oshawa, Hamilton, Kingston and Ottawa. Students are organizing in solidarity at York, University of Toronto and Ryerson in Toronto, from the University of Guelph and of course from…
Comments closedNOVEMBER 14, 1995 – The Ontario Federation of Labour executive has called for a one-day general strike in London Ont., December 11, to protest the Tories’ anti-worker policies.[1] The Tories were quick to turn to threats and intimidation. Harris warned workers to “think long and hard” before participating in such an action.[2] In fact, workers have for months now been thinking “long and hard” about the scale of the Tory attacks. It is the responsibility of every unionist, every community activist, every student to throw themselves into making the one-day strike a success. But our leaders must commit the resources,…
Comments closedSEPTEMBER 17, 1995 – September 27 will see the biggest demonstration yet against Mike Harris and the Tory government in Ontario. On the 22,000 strong Toronto labour day march,[1] hundreds of workers carried signs calling for unionists to join the protest. More than 10,000 flyers announcing the demonstration were distributed to union contingents. Since the election of the Tories on June 26 of this year we have seen the slashing of welfare payments, a 20 percent cut to transfer payments to municipalities, and over two million dollars taken out of Wheel Trans (the public transportation system for the disabled.) But…
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