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﻿<title﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, DOA: Days of Action, or Dead On Arrival?- Article﻿</title>﻿

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﻿<b﻿>﻿DOA: 

﻿<br﻿>﻿Days of Action, or Dead On Arrival?

﻿<br﻿>﻿</b>﻿</font>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿


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by Rhonda Sussman﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿<i﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, June - July 1998﻿</i>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

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For many union and community activists, the leadership of the Ontario Federation of Labour has squandered the potential of the Days of Action to create lasting rank-and-file organizations, or to build momemtum and support for a province-wide action against the Harris government in the fall. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

At its last convention, the OFL agreed to organize more Days of Action and to plan a one-day strike across the province, but its leaders have not been clear on the aims of these actions. In fact, Sid Ryan (CUPE Ontario president) and Buzz Hargrove (CAW National president) have recently been skeptical about Days of Action, but have suggested little in the way of other actions against the Tory government.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The reasonably successful Kingston Day of Action (held on June 8) was not used by but the OFL leaders to mobilize working people for the fall. It is clear that may union leaders are planning to water down the action in October, substituting a series of rallies for a mass strike.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Days of Action have become unclear in their purpose and limited in their results. Some unions aren't showing support - the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation told their members to report to work as usual during the St. Catharines DoA, and there were no pickets by CUPE school employees or by any other unions to shut the schools down.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The OFL's "fightback" strategy may now be limited to re-electing the NDP and using Days of Action as pre-election campaigns; the NDP had a much more prominent role in the St. Catharines Day of Action than in previous ones. A provincial election could be a full year away - are working people supposed to wait to defend themselves? Days of Action could be used to create a hard-hitting one-day strike across the province, but a successful action has to be built from city to city, using Days of Action as rallying points for activists who could keep up the momentum after the day is over. In every city, independent and grassroots organizations have taken part in Days of Actions. If these groups haven't been successful in sustaining activity after the day is over, at least they have brought together activists who may develop something more lasting in the future. In fact, the strategy of some of these groups is just what the anti-Harris movement has needed.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, for example, takes part in Days of Action and also works to build grassroots community activism through specific campaigns that have a clear impact, and through defending individuals under attack.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

One of OCAP's major campaigns is to fight workfare. Workfare violates the rights of poor people - they are forced to take part and the government has tabled a bill denying workfare "participants" the right to organize unions.Workfare threatens to replace paid jobs with forced labour.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

OCAP doesn't have the power to stop workfare as a whole, so it is working community by community, action by action, site by site. It has publicly exposed and picketed social agencies who have considered "hiring" staff through workfare. According to OCAP provincial organizer John Clarke, they have been very successful in putting brakes on workfare - Metro Toronto had a target of 25,000 workfare placements in social agencies, and only 124 have been set up so far. Shirley Hoy, Metro Toronto Commissioner of Social Services, attributes these low numbers to OCAP's actions.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The Ontario government is now bringing workfare to private sector companies. As the next phase of workfare begins, OCAP is working with the Canadian Union of Public Employees to combat welfare, and has called on other unions and community groups to form Work-Not-Workfare committees. They want to "encourage" private sector companies not to take part either.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Now if we could put OCAP in charge of the Days of Action....

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿


﻿<font﻿ ﻿size="1"﻿>﻿Rhonda Susssman is an activist in CUPE and the New Socialist Group. This article is based on conversations with activists in public and private sector unions and with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.﻿</font>﻿</font>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿


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