Privatization: one battle is won but the war goes on
Dear sisters and brothers:
It’s official: The McGuinty Liberals have put a stake
through the heart of a very bad idea called “Supercorp.”
It’s a big relief. The basic idea of Supercorp was this:
1) the LCBO, Ontario Lottery and Gaming, Hydro One, and
Ontario Power Generation would become a single company;
2) the Liberals would sell 20 per cent of it to private
investors; and
3) the Liberals would spend that money on their
re-election in 2011.
It was never a good proposal. Supercorp would have robbed
Ontarians of a big chunk of the $4 billion a year those companies earn for
all of us. And by giving investors a say in management, I believe it would
have cut jobs and pushed down wages right across the board.
On July 12, the Finance Minister announced that Supercorp
was dead. The reasons he gave were technical, but the real reasons were
political. Both Minister Duncan and Premier McGuinty knew the public didn’t
like the idea. More importantly, they knew that the opposition was going to
be organized and effective.
In 2010 the Liquor Board Employees Division of OPSEU has
worked hard to create allies to fight Supercorp.
The Division reached out to the public. It hosted a national
meeting of liquor unions. It worked with our Executive Board to picket a
Liberal Cabinet meeting. It forged strong ties with the Society of Energy
Professionals, a sister union in the electricity sector.
Together, OPSEU and the Society funded focus groups and
polling. We laid the groundwork for a major campaign. And we sent a clear
message to the Liberals that Supercorp was a fight they could not win.
Sadly, the privatization threat will never go away. It can’t
go away as long as our world is driven by the quest for profit. Private
companies will keep asking government for more “opportunities,” and they
will keep funding the politicians who will provide them.
We will always be fighting privatization’s attack on our
jobs and the public services our communities need. For today, though, let’s
celebrate a victory.
In solidarity, Warren
(Smokey) Thomas President,
Ontario Public Service Employees Union
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