Hey, Ford: Take on ONA, take on our allies too

In fact, with the Ford government trampling over workers’ rights at every turn and employers hell bent on dismantling our hard-fought contracts, the need for ONA to collectively fight back together and with our union allies and other supporters has never been stronger. That’s why we have dedicated an entire section to it on F-Word.

Support from our allies

“Never in all my time at ONA – and I would boldly suggest our entire 50-plus-year history – has there been such shining examples of solidarity,” says ONA Provincial President Erin Ariss. “The voices of a few members are strong. But the voices of 68,000 members behind them are even stronger. And the voices of those 68,000 members, plus our union and community friends, are off the charts. That’s what swings the pendulum. That’s what effects change. After all, a win for one worker is a win for all workers.”

Those shining examples include:

• When the Ford government suppressed the pay of public-sector workers, including many ONA members, through Bill 124, they didn’t know what they were in for. Together with our union allies, we rallied. We demanded better in meetings with government officials. We spoke to our local media. We took it to the courts. We didn’t give up. And we won.
• As part of a five-union coalition, and along with our friends at the Ontario Health Coalition, we fought health-care privatization and brought public awareness to the serious ramifications of this disastrous growing trend.
•  During the last rounds of provincial hospital and nursing homes bargaining, ally flags were a constant reminder of their support at our events, and we subsequently received favourable arbitration decisions not seen in decades.  

“Your fight is our fight,” says SEIU Healthcare Executive Vice-President Jackie Walker. “When we link arms in this province and across Canada, we are unstoppable. We organize and that’s how we win.”

ONA7 Local Coordinator Melanie Holjak, who led her members at the (then named) Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit through a 10-day strike in 2012, couldn’t agree more. 

“Our union allies, including CUPE, OSSTF, ETFO and OPSEU, have shown incredible support to ONA members,” she says. “They value the work and services we provide within our communities. My members and I were very grateful when other unions attended our pickets during our strike. We, in turn, must show the same support and show up when we see workers engaged in job action. This mutual support builds strength and solidarity and unites workers across Ontario. Many of our struggles and priorities are the same, as are the attacks on our rights.”

Support to our allies

And many of you have. In 2022, when Premier Ford tried to override the constitutional rights of CUPE education workers by introducing pre-emptive back to work legislation and imposing a contract on them through Bill 28, we fought alongside, knowing we could be next, and he backed right down. ONA stood in solidarity with 3,700 striking Unifor workers from 27 Metro stores in the Greater Toronto Area, who like all of you, sacrificed so much during the pandemic, and refused to buy groceries there. We celebrated when they received a significant boost in wages, setting a precedent for future negotiations for all unionized grocery workers. And you joined 9,000 LCBO workers represented by OPSEU SEFPO on their picket lines to protest the Ford government’s plan to increase private alcohol sales, which led to a commitment from the Crown agency to keep 680 of its retail locations open until 2027 and launch a taskforce to examine the impacts of the government’s access-to-alcohol policies.   

“The LCBO workers were so pleased to have ONA attend and so impressed with our signs that the picket captain asked if they could have some to hang in their union office to show their members that they are supported by other unions, including ‘the nurses,’” relays Holjak. “And we were so happy to support them.”

Support to each other

But, she notes, solidarity also begins at home.  

“While there are differences across various sectors, ONA members have in common the hope for improved working conditions and patient/resident/client care – and we each have a part to play to achieve this. It starts with showing up at rallies, pickets and other events planned by ONA Local leaders. Health care is intricately intertwined and the delivery of service at one Bargaining Unit impacts the work at another. For example, if our community health centres are in crisis, that impacts hospital workers who see an increase in patients without primary care providers. If our hospitals don’t have capacity to care for patients, they are discharged early, and other sectors, including long-term care, VON and public health, must support those who are at increased risk due to unresolved or worsening medical conditions.”

With our hospital and VON members currently involved in a very difficult round of provincial bargaining, this solidarity couldn’t be more important. 

“Both sectors desperately need our support,” concludes Holjak. “During our strike, receiving support from other ONA members was crucial to maintaining morale and demonstrating to the employer that our small Bargaining Unit wasn’t insignificant or unimportant. It made the strike effective and impactful. We must show up for these members and seek opportunities to demonstrate our support. The union is not an abstract entity. We are the union and demonstrating that we care and support each other is the path forward to achieving improvements in all sectors.”