Protest never works, except for when it does

After serving as campaign manager in two elections that were defined by historically low voter turnout, I'm surprised as anyone that the Ontario government did a complete U-turn in response to the threat of a general strike.

At the same time, once Premier Ford and Minister Lecce preemptively used the notwithstanding clause, this was the only way that it could end.

When Bill 28 was read in the Ontario legislature last Monday, it was clear that this was where we were headed. To recap, Bill 28 used Section 33 (the "notwithstanding clause") in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to take away one union's right to strike.

People started paying attention– 80% were aware according to a poll and support for the union was over 60%. If education workers could lose their Charter rights, then anyone could lose their rights.

If one union could be targeted, then any union could be targeted. So unions started lining up for a general strike. At a press conference yesterday morning, leaders representing millions of workers were pledging their support.

A general strike occurs when multiple unions, or even individuals not in unions, across multiple sectors withhold their labour in solidarity with each other.

There was only one significant general strike in Canadian history, so it's instructive to look at why that one failed (in the short term), but the threat of a general strike worked this time. There are a lot of similarities between the two contexts.

Winnipeg General Strike, 1919

The strike occurred from 15 May to 25 June. Fifty unions and almost every worker in the city participated. At the time, Winnipeg, Manitoba was the third largest city in the country with a population of 179,000. The strike spanned both private sector (factories, retail, and trains) and public sector (fire, police, postal, and telecommunications).

The organizers were likely aware of a one-day general strike in Vancouver the previous year.

City leaders, the federal government, and newspapers worked together to oppose the strike. They demonized workers and labeled the strike as a revolutionary plot from Eastern Europe. Union leaders and members were arrested. On Bloody Saturday (June 21), police mounted on horseback charged protesters, beat them with clubs, and fired revolvers in the crowed. Thirty were injured and two died.

There are a number of similarities between 1919 and today. Inflation was high and people were finding it difficult to afford housing and food. Our unemployment rate today is numerically higher, but then there was greater unease and no gig economy.

Unfortunately, the strike failed in the short term. The action ended with no concessions and lots of penalties. However, it was a watershed moment for Canadian labour. They had won the hearts and minds of the public. One of the leaders, J.S. Woodsworth, went on to form the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), which is a forerunner of today's New Democratic Party (NDP).

Why did Ontario, 2022 succeed?

Single-factor explanations are rarely sufficient to explain a complex phenomenon, such as a U-turn in government policy. From the outset, the Ford government held all the cards. They had a majority in the legislature, so they could pass any bill they wanted. The voter turnout in the June election was only 43.5%, so citizens were disengaged. It was early in the mandate, any sins would be largely forgotten over the next four years.  

Rights, not dollars

As I mentioned last week, neither side smells like roses at the end of a fraught labour negotiation. Consequently, the general public, who is usually not paying close attention, has trouble figuring out who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist.

But the use of the notwithstanding clause changed the calculus. "Should people have the freedom of association?" is a much easier question to answer than "do these workers deserve an 11% pay increase?"

Organization before demonstration

In the days before social media, significant organizational capability was required in order to coordinate a mass gathering. This is no longer the case when thousands can be summoned using media that is essentially free. Consequently, mass gatherings have become devalued in political discourse and the ruling class no longer fear them. Organizational capability is necessary to press the point, through lobbying, letter-writing, policy planning, campaigning, and creating programs and services.

There have been many public peaceful demonstrations in recent years, ranging from protests against the war in Iraq to Occupy Canada, from Climate Strike on Fridays to Black Lives Matter - Toronto, that have not moved the needle on any policies. Furthermore, some protests that have been crushed by police, such as the G20 protests in Toronto and Wet’suwet’en pipeline blockade.

The threatened general strike drew its strength from both traditional organizational capability and social media reach. Unions have organizational capability in spades. And members of the public were brought in short notice using platforms such as the web, Twitter, and Facebook.

Outside support

Governments in positions of power do not easily capitulate, so pressure is needed from outside support. Countries that violate their citizen's human rights face sanctions from other countries. The fledging United States of America benefited from materiel support from France in the War of Independence with Great Britain.

The small union, the Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU), had 55,000 members. They were part of CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) Ontario, who in turn had allies provincially and federally. A general strike would have had a lot of impact.

• Estimated number of striking workers: 2.34 million

• Labour Force in Ontario: 8.1 million (October, 2022)

• Trade Union Density Rate: 29% (2021)

• Number of public and private unions in Ontario: 46

Beyond unions, and this is important, there were other sources of outside support. The federal government could have disallowed the law and Prime Minister Trudeau was critical of Bill 28, suggesting that it could happen. Premiers in other provinces, especially conservative ones, likely provided their input in back channels. They likely were concerned about the implications of a general strike in their jurisdictions.  Finally, business leaders may also have weighed in. Donors and supporters to the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario are another source of pressure to avoid a general strike.

Given that the government was holding all the cards, this kind of criticism was necessary for Premier Ford to appear in a press conference on Monday morning on the second day of the strike and completely capitulate.

Premier Ford and Minister Lecce were obviously uncomfortable at the press conference. Premier Ford fumbled the opening words when reading the prepared statement from the teleprompter. He even read his answers from a teleprompter.

What's next?

Now that we've stepped back from the brink of a general strike, where do we go from here?

Collective bargaining

The government needs to repeal Bill 28 and that is expected to happen next Monday (November 14) when MPPs return from a break. And they need to arrive at a contract with OSBCU. Let's hope that it contains a fair wage and appropriate working conditions.

Unions will likely use their newfound solidarity to their advantage when bargaining other contracts. Let's hope this means more labour peace. The first test will be the current GO Transit strike.

Minister Lecce will likely keep his job. Bill 28 was a big step and took weeks to prepare. He wasn't a loose canon. Although we haven't seen his ministerial mandate letter, he's been in conflict with unions since 2018. Prior to the COVID pandemic, teachers were engaged in rotating strikes and work to rule actions.

Legislative agenda

There are other bills that are worthy of public protest, but are unlikely to receive it to the same degree. Bill 23, More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022 seeks to remove environmental protections on wetlands and allow construction on previously protected spaces. This bill reverses a 2018 election promise to not touch the greenbelt.

Regardless of your position on urban density and affordable housing, it's not a good idea to build on flood plains during especially when global warming is bringing more extreme weather events. Will these homes even be insurable? When, not if, people are flooded out of their homes, they are going to look to government for help, both with the immediate disaster and subsequent remediation.

Bill 124 Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, 2019 should also be repealed. The bill imposed a contract that limited wage increases to 1% on unionized and non-unionized public employees. Our health care system is currently experiencing staff shortages and long wait times due to this underfunding. This bill is under going a Charter challenge in Ontario Superior Court. Based on precedent, the challenge will likely succeed.

An item that should be on the legislative agenda is raising ODSP (Ontario Disability Support Program) rates. A single person on ODSP receives $14,000 per year, well below the poverty line of $19,930 in Ontario. It's difficult to afford food and shelter on these rates. If we doubled the rate, the amount would be similar to the CERB (Canada Emergency Response Benefit) payments that was handed out during at the start of the COVID pandemic.

More general strikes?

Unions banding together was an exceptional accomplishment. It hasn't happened for a hundred years, roughly the same amount of time since the last pandemic. As Tom Jokinen wrote in 2019 in The Walrus,

It was an off-script moment—that’s not the way it’s ­supposed to go now that labour strength and collectivity are at an ebb. But commerce sometimes forgets what happens when it backs people into a corner, as it did in 1919, when workers got their act together and shut down a city.

Will there be another general strike here? Impossible to know. This one took an exceptional misstep by the government.

General strikes receive little coverage in traditional media, but they are happening if you look. There was one in the West Bank last week. There is one occurring in South Africa right now. There will be one in Greece tomorrow. Another is being planned in Korea for the end of the month.

France seems to have its share of general strikes and massive street protests, such as the yellow vests and farmers. I've read that the French are more accepting of protests, because they identify as citizens first and are more likely to act in solidarity with other citizens. This attitude hasn't inoculated them against the same unrest as the rest of the world, but it does present another model of civic engagement. This model is a big topic, and we can get deeper into this on another day.

I'm still surprised that I called the Premier and Minister of Education and it worked. I'm not used to winning and definitely not so dramatically. Protest never works, except for when it does. The most important takeaway from this event is citizens don't need to wait for election day to hold their government accountable. The public has been increasingly cynical and disengaged, and that's the real problem with low voter turnout. Citizens are disconnected from their leaders, and they feel increasingly powerless and cynical when policies they don't like are enacted.

Now, are you paying attention?