Jeff Arbus OPSEU EBM Region 6

As part of my promise when I was elected to the OPSEU Executive Board, I continue to search for ways to use my background and experience to promote improvements for OPSEU activists.

Recently I met with staff from Training and Development in an effort to assist activists with responding to unexpected or traumatic situations with members.

The Training and Development Unit will incorporate some basic principles into their existing materials. Possible areas of inclusion might be case studies in steward courses, scenarios in the new presidents orientation, and the “hands on” tools to be developed and shared on the OPSEU website.

I appreciated the eagerness with which the Training and Development staff recognized the challenge and took it on.

This ongoing responsiveness to the needs of our members, and the continuous pursuit of improvement, makes OPSEU the great Union it is.

Beneath Drummond’s “big ticket” items – those that are making headlines and have huge immediate and negative impact – are more insidious attacks on collective bargaining, on the rights of workers, and on free collective bargaining.

Several of Drummond’s recommendations, such as 3-5 and 3-11, clearly point the way toward privatization. Little in Drummond’s report restricts where privatization should or should not occur. Drummond is recommending privatization occur in the broadest possible way. This opens the door for foreign ownership, user fees, insecure personal information, and fewer bargaining rights as collectively bargained gains bump up against the profit margin for privately-owned deliverers of services.

But look further, into Chapter 15: Labour Relations. Here we find the real gems of the anti-union movement:

Recommendation 15-6, for example, attacks the seniority system, referring to it as “impeding the move towards a progressive and efficient public service.”

Recommendation 15-7: “Do not let concerns about successor rights in the broader public service stop privatizations or amalgamations…inherited agreements do not live forever…”

Recommendation 15-8: “Consider expanding the authority of the Ontario Labour Relations Board to facilitate the establishment of effective and rationalized bargaining structures that support the delivery of quality and effective public services.” Nothing about the rights of workers.

Recommendation 15-9: “Further rationalize bargaining, while recognizing that multiple models of rationalized bargaining exist (e.g. centralized, co-ordinated, legislated, voluntary)…” Again, an undermining of the rights of a bargaining unit to negotiate its terms of bargaining.

And Recommendation 15-14: “Ensure that the job descriptions and collective agreement provisions defining management’s ability to organize work are flexible enough to allow for the movement of people to ensure that the best people are in the right places at the right time.” Here is one of the most insidious examples of assault on the rights of workers to collectively bargain terms of employment. This would lead to the end of defined boundaries for redeployment, and could even lead to the end of premiums for overtime, defined work days and work hours, the rights of workers during time off, and the loss of grievance rights in any reorganization or redeployment. All OPSEU members should take note of this one.

The media, and members of the public, have rightfully recoiled at many of the recommendations, especially those concerning health care, education, Service Ontario, and the downloading to municipalities, among others. Those are bad enough, and threaten the very structure of our communities.

But there is more lurking beneath the surface, flying under the radar, just where the anti-union advocates prefer to be.

We must remain vigilant and united to protect our rights and the rights of future workers.

You can find Drummond’s report, and the summary of recommendations, on the Ontario Ministry of Finance website.

“Ontario has elected a government determined to reduce the size of the public service, whether or not this is actually in the public interest….The public service serves democracy. It makes democracy smarter, it makes it more effective, it makes it possible…Any debate about the public service should be measured. It should not be implied that the public service is without value or values. To do so downgrades public servants and the democracy they serve.” These words have a ring of truth as we read them in light of the Drummond Report. They were actually written in 2001 by Tim Hadwen, former OPSEU General Counsel. And here we are, over 10 years later, facing what is arguably the greatest attack on the Ontario public service in living memory.

In recent years the political right has mobilized, strengthened its position, conducted massive campaigns to sway public opinion, and now takes advantage of an economic problem which they falsely blame on the public service.

Interestingly, the problems with the economy that have spurred this attack were not a feature of the Liberal campaign platform in the last provincial election. McGuinty was elected with a minority. He was not elected with a mandate to slash the public service. His position has moved decidedly to the political right.

I encourage you to read Drummond’s recommendations, which can be found on the Ministry of Finance website. Some of them are old ideas. Most, especially the key recommendations, will lead directly to the elimination or privatization of up to 30 percent of the public service.

If McGuinty continues on his reckless drive in Drummond’s direction (and in Conservative leader Tim Hudak’s direction) we can expect more user fees, and less security as our personal information is turned over to private operators. With a decimated public service we can anticipate, in Hadwen’s words, “confusion, obscured accountability and reduced public participation; less political control; increased duplication and waste, and a less informed government.” We will certainly see a widening of the gap between the wealthiest 1 percent and the other 99 percent. 

I am proud to be part of OPSEU’s fight against the irresponsible right-wing agenda that seems to have taken hold in Ontario. I will look forward to the report of the Commission on Quality Public Services and Tax Fairness, which, unlike Drummond, did broad public consultation with the goal of bringing accountability, sense and fairness to the discussion. 

This is not over.

Along with continuing actions to privatize Service Ontario, there is a very real possibility of Service Ontario taking over other programs including social housing, social assistance, and ODSP. Privatizing Service Ontario is wrong-headed. Moving essential public services to the private sector has been shown to disenfranchise the most vulnerable in our communities, the recipients of these basic services. Correcting the provincial deficit on the backs of the most vulnerable, all the while propping up CEO’s with tax cuts and fat bonuses, is not the way to go. Don Drummond might think this is ok. We don’t agree. People are responding by supporting the Commission on Quality Public Services and Tax Fairness. Province-wide hearings and town hall meetings are under way. Speak out in support of public services. The next hearings are in London on January 11 followed by hearings and a town hall in Ottawa on January 16. Join us in the fight for quality public services. www.standupontario.org

Friends, Sisters, Brothers, thanks for the support you have given me in the year just ending.

All the best of my wishes to you and your loved ones, for the coming year.

In lieu of cards, I am making a donation to the Region 6 Hardship Fund and also to the Live and Let Live Fund.

In solidarity,

Jeff

“December 6 is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada. Established in 1991 by the Parliament of Canada, this day marks the anniversary of the murders in 1989 of 14 young women at l’École Polytechnique de Montréal. They died because they were women.”

As the group “Status of Women Canada” so rightly puts it, “December 6 represents an opportunity for Canadians to reflect on the phenomenon of violence against women in our society. It is also an opportunity to consider the women and girls for whom violence is a daily reality, and to remember those who have died as a result of gender-based violence. And finally, it is a day on which communities can consider concrete actions to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls.”

This is also a day for men and women to give thought to issues of male-dominance and power; to understand the perpetuation of violence directed at the vulnerable; and to resolve to take actions to eliminate gender-based violence, discrimination, and marginalization.

OPSEU upholds the important and lofty goals of equity, at all levels and in all humanly-possible ways. We start each meeting with the Statement of Respect, and we build from there. Our equity groups provide a focus for our ideas, energies, and campaigns for equity. And each of us, individually as members and through our Locals and other structures, has an important role to play. Each of us can examine the various outcroppings of gender-based discrimination, as they affect our daily working lives, and resolve to change those circumstances, now.

With the support of our sisters and brothers, we can create a better world. We may not achieve all our goals today, but we can take the steps needed to make today better than yesterday.

This day reminds us of the goals we strive to achieve. Let’s use it wisely. Let’s build that better world.

Even silence speaks
Two minutes OF SILENCE
November 24 at 11 a.m. in every OPS workplace
The cuts to public services continue.
>> 231 layoff notices were issued on November 17. Many of these people are long-serving employees with families.
>> 650 jobs in total have been lost in 2011 and more layoffs are coming.
>> More than 20,000 OPS positions have been cut, privatized or divested in the past 15 years.
It’s about more than our members. It’s about public services. Here are some impacts of the cuts so far:
>> Elimination of the Special Services at Home Program for adults with developmental disabilities.
>> Delays in processing vital court documents like restraining orders, divorce papers and court orders for child and spousal support.
>> Inability to provide timely and accurate information to enforcement officers monitoring road and vehicle safety.
>> Elimination of staff responsible for ensuring local governments follow legislation when delivering tens of millions of dollars in
social assistance.
>> Drinking water inspectors cut at five locations: London, Windsor, Ajax, Cornwall and Toronto.
>> Elimination of several frontline scientific and technical experts on environmental issues.
>> A reduction in the number of staff regulating pay day loan companies, collection agencies and credit bureaus.
>>Delays in processing claims from health care providers.
Public service cuts hurt everyone.
On November 24 at 11 a.m., join OPSEU members in Ontario Public Service workplaces for two minutes of silence. Show solidarity for colleagues affected by the job cuts and for the impact it will have on our communities. a message from Chris Cormier, CERC Vice-Chair

Important letter for OPS members and their supporters

http://opseuregion6.com/Region_6_Web_Page/Region_6_News/Region_6_News.html

The 99% prevail. http://occupywallst.org/article/victory-99-ohio/