OFL Convention 2021 – the Storm after the Stifling Calm
by Barry Weisleder
Top union officials took advantage of the online nature of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) Convention, held from November 2-4, to stifle delegates’ voices and to violate rules of order with careless abandon – until an explosion of rank-and-file anger brought the proceedings to a temporary halt.
907 delegates registered, representing nearly a million affiliated workers, but they had almost zero in-put into the agenda and in the determination of which submitted resolutions would be considered.
The three top officials of the OFL chaired the gathering as if they owned it, with little regard for the constitution, let alone principles of workers’ democracy. Delegates who moved amendments (“referral”) to various resolutions, and to the so-called Action Plan, were not allowed to present their reasons prior to a quickly held vote. Challenges to the chair were dismissed, summarily. Until a sustained blast of Points of Order and Points of Privilege occurred on the Thursday afternoon, led by delegates of colour who loudly decried ‘white privilege’, institutional arrogance and sexism.
Delegates identified with the Workers’ Action Movement (WAM) persistently demanded adherence to democratic procedure. They denounced the support given by the heads of OPSEU and Unifor to Ontario Conservative Premier Doug Ford at a news conference held in front of the Legislature at Queen’s Park on November 1 – an act of treachery that rocked the OFL convention, but to which the OFL brass made no formal public response.
Ironically, the Action Plan touted by the labour brass focusses almost single-mindedly on an electoral campaign to defeat Ford, and elect the New Democratic Party. The Action Plan carried, but only after many delegates spoke bitterly in what became a virtual ‘festival of the oppressed’.
A highlight of the convention was the strong support for WAM candidates seeking the top executive positions. Barry Conway, running for President, received 26.6% of the votes. Daniel Tarade, the Labour Forward candidate for Secretary Treasurer, got 17.4% of the votes cast. Sandra Griffith-Bonaparte running for Executive Vice-President attracted 21.6% of the ballots.
57% supported a referral motion by Tarade to include in the Action Plan a demand that workers suspended or terminated for not being vaccinated get Employment Insurance, but the brass hand-picked Resolutions Committee rejected the amendment.
44% voted for a referral motion to “put the emphasis on direct mass job action, including general strikes, to dump the Tories in favour of an NDP government committed to socialist policies”. This was another sign that the rank-and-file are willing to fight for a workers’ agenda using all the tools at their disposal.
22% ultimately voted against the Action Plan, for a variety of reasons, including its shameless cheerleading for a purely electoral strategy, and to protest OFL neglect of mass job action against a very regressive bosses’ government.
WAM held lively and well-attended De-Brief sessions each day at adjournment. Six delegates joined the growing WAM steering committee.
WAM resolved to build a WAM chapter in every union, and to promote solidarity with the mass strike in New Brunswick. Activists offered to write articles about the OFL convention, to expose the sly efforts by CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn to curb the input of Conway and Tarade. WAM undertook to promote mass action on May Day, in conjunction with the OFL, if possible.
