Canada: Looking Back at the Summer of the Strike

The weather wasn't the only thing that was hot this summer. A series of confrontations between workers and the bosses this summer showed that despite the fact that many workers are fearing for their jobs and their livelihoods, they would not idly sit back while the bosses, the banks, and the government attempted to attack workers' living standards.

Around the world, much of the organized labour movement has been temporarily stunned by the depth of this economic crisis. In many cases, the bosses have convinced the labour leaders that unless workers take massive cuts to their wages and benefits, there will be no jobs left. Workers, rightfully, are fearful of further job losses, especially since there is no guarantee that these jobs will return once there is a “recovery” in the world economy. Even many bourgeois economists agree that this is the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. However, even during the Great Depression, it wasn't until 1933 and 1934 that we saw a significant workers' movement arise – a full four or five years after the crisis first hit. Even though labour activity has been relatively low around the world, this does not mean that workers will not eventually fight back against the bosses' cuts and attacks.

Bucking this trend has been the Canadian working class, particularly workers in Ontario. This summer has seen a significant number of strike votes and strikes, a very good sign of the militancy and strength of the Canadian labour movement. More significant has been the resolve of the workers, especially in very difficult strikes where there has been little public support for the strike and the government has done everything in its power to starve the unions. The civic workers' strikes in Windsor and Toronto truly showed the strength of workers when they fight back united. In Toronto, workers were out on strike for 39 days while in Windsor, workers there struck for 101 days. Over 2000 Vale Inco workers have been on strike since 13th July in Sudbury.

What has also been notable from some of these strikes is that despite the economic crisis, the workers have emerged victorious from some of these mobilizations. The Toronto civic workers, for example, were able to beat back most of the concessions that were demanded by the Toronto civic government. They were even able to partially beat back the attempt by the city to destroy the banking of sick days. The threat of a strike by LCBO workers (and millions of dollars of lost revenue for the Ontario government) forced the LCBO to concede to giving casual and part-time staff some benefits, as well as increasing the number of full-time positions within the LCBO. The Ontario government was also unable to remove any clauses that would simplify the privatization of the LCBO; a long-time goal for big business in Ontario.

To those that say that victories and better working conditions are no longer possible in this economic crisis, we ask them, “When have the bosses ever willingly given us anything?” Every victory has only been possible through struggle. To those who say that there is no money for us, we ask, “So why is there money for bail-outs, subsidies, corporate tax cuts, and the occupation of Afghanistan?” On this Labour Day, it is more important than ever before to realize that by workers uniting, we can emerge victorious in fighting for better working conditions, for all workers today and tomorrow.

Capitalism is at an impasse and the old solutions of yesterday are no longer enough. Worldwide, the public debt of the ten largest economies of the world has grown to an unprecedented 106% of GDP! Unlike in the post-WWII era, when the economy begins to recover, governments and the bosses are going to have to launch massive attacks and cutbacks in an attempt to restore financial sanity. This is all that capitalism can offer. The only way in which we are going to preserve what we have and fight for a better future for ourselves and our families is to fight back against capitalism, united as workers and fighting for socialism.