Derailed by Democratic Socialists

If you asked me at the beginning of this year if there was a chance of a general strike taking place anywhere in Canada, I would have called you an adventurist, a LARPer and many more mean and unnecessary things depending on how many beers I had consumed. But the Doug Ford government’s use of the notwithstanding clause to push through strike-breaking legislation got the workers of Ontario to prove me wrong. In a piece for The Maple, I covered the tumultuous weekend for CUPE. From the massive display of solidarity at Queen’s Park November 4th, to the reports of a brewing general strike on the 6th, to Ford’s press conference willing to recede the legislation on the 7th and to the union’s response to withdraw the protests in exchange for Bill 28’s repeal. It was an historic weekend, and while I have my critiques of certain union decisions, it was undoubtedly a victory for labour to see Ford’s reckless attacks on workers repelled. The threat of a general strike was very, very real, and is likely a major factor in Ford’s repealing of the bill.

A similar situation took place recently in the US, with a possible rail workers strike. The deal in question was rejected by four of the 12 unions involved. These four unions made up more than half of the 115,000 workers covered by the deal. The bosses’ offer included no paid sick days and a continued use of a scheduling system which leaves workers at the risk of termination for tending to family emergencies.

Somehow, after three years of negotiations, these very basic asks were not considered essential enough for the other side to add to the deal, which lead to the worker dissatisfaction mentioned earlier. This is when the capitalist system fully kicked into gear, with Biden and the Democrats fear-mongering about the economy and tabling strike-breaking legislation to force the unions to accept the terms.

But wait! We have working class heroes! Six members of Congress who are considered to be the furthest left representatives in the country known as The Squad! Two-time Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders! Surely they’re going to stand with workers and demand an end to the legislative strike-breaking and defend the workers against th-

No.

The closest they got to worker support was the House voting for a version of the bill with seven-days paid sick leave, and Sanders’ proposing the same in the Senate. The version with paid sick leave that passed in the House, of course, failed to pass in the Senate. This just left the legislation enforcing the deal that unions rejected as the logical conclusion. The only member of The Squad to vote against the final bill was Rashida Tlaib. In the Senate, Sanders voted nay on the sans-sick day version of the bill, but it passed regardless. Biden signed the bill into law on Friday.

But wait one gosh-darn second here, why are self-described socialists voting for any legislation which forces unions to accept a deal they have definitively rejected? Well according to AOC, they followed directions from unions like Teamsters Local 202… a grocery union of drivers and warehouse workers.

Last time I checked, those weren’t rail workers.

Also, and I cannot stress this enough, the unions asked for 15 paid sick days. The “progressive” version of this bill was less than half of the sick days asked for by rail workers, included no mention of the scheduling issue and was decoupled from the back-to-work legislation, ensuring its defeat in the Senate.

But the betrayal of the rank-and-file workers doesn’t stop there.

Jacobin, that beacon of radical communism, published a piece on November 30th, praising Sanders for his brave, heroic stance of adding 46 per cent of requested sick days to the back-to-work legislation. The article frontloads the discussion by using words like “looming” and “potentially monumentally disruptive” to describe the strike. Writer Branko Marcetic described the concerns of the unions, and said the government is “effectively” forcing the acceptance of a deal. I assume in the same way that I “effectively” drive by steering and pressing pedals in a car.

The piece goes on to (rightly) denounce the tactics used by Biden and the Democrats to end the strike and force a deal on the unions, the deafening silence by other Democratic politicians and the obvious Republican garbage we all expect at this point.

The portion of the article that supports strike-breaking tries to justify its existence by pointing to the democratic socialists’ statements. The statements which reaffirmed their commitment to the anti-worker deal… if it had sick days! According to the article, Sanders said “he’d block any such legislation until seven paid sick days for railworkers were included,” Cori Bush was quoted saying “I will not support a deal that does not provide our rail workers with the paid sick leave they need and deserve,” Jamaal Bowmen declared it was “an inhumane deal being pushed onto workers even after a majority voted it down.” AOC herself said “If Congress intervenes, it should be to have workers’ backs and secure their demands in legislation.” Rashida Tlaib is also mentioned in that paragraph but, to be fair, she’s the only House representative who didn’t vote for the legislation without sick days.

The phenomenon continued in other strange ways. BMWED, one of the unions who’s membership voted down the deal, publicly defended AOC on their Twitter account for her votes on legislating the deal. Whether this statement reflects the feelings of the 56 per cent of union members who rejected the deal in October is not immediately clear. Countless online leftists, not worth mentioning by name in this piece, cried foul at the Republicans in the Senate for voting down the sick days measure. They bemoaned the fact that, even though a majority of representatives voted for it, the minimum 60 votes was not reached and it was defeated.

What tragedy! What injustice! The so-called “democratic” United States isn’t as it appears to be! We can’t even break unions in a slightly progressive way! Woe is us, and shame on the Republicans and establishment Democrats, who won’t even toss a pittance to the rail workers! Workers who need to get back to work right this second. It’s for the economy, you see. It’s the way politics is done, you see. Our hands were tied, you see.

You don’t need me to tell you what a load this is. Any coherent defence of this legislation is non-existant. Allowing rail workers to strike and bring the US economy to its knees is the point of the action. These hardworking people are what keep the country running. They deserve to be treated with dignity, respect, and like human beings. Stabbing workers in the back and saying you really wanted to use a smaller knife, but just couldn’t swing it, is not how socialism fucking works. If your retort is that the seven paid sick days were the best outcome we could have hoped for in the US government, you’re entirely missing the point that seven paid sick days were the best outcome we could have hoped for in the US government.

Any governmental body who’s highest ambition is breaking unions but with a plate of scraps is an unjust institution with no legitimacy. Any self-described “leftist” who sees this situation then sides with capitalist politicians who add a wink and a smile to their anti-worker legislation is a person with no spine.

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Connecting this with the CUPE situation in Ontario is not a perfect comparison. Canada is the only country that has the “notwithstanding clause," CUPE workers, while essential, would not affect the economy of Canada with a strike to the same degree as rail workers and our electoral left-wing is further from the centre than the US’. But strains of this dynamic can still be seen.

Credit where it’s due, the Ontario NDP made a stand to defend CUPE workers. However, their defence of CUPE in this manner constituted pushing back against the capitalist system in some small way using tactics that they normally avoid. The workers called it a political protest, but it was functionally a wildcat strike. Even with its quasi-legality, NDP MPPs stood alongside them. Their protest to coordinate mass ejections from the chamber points out the function of civility politics in a capitalist state (protecting capitalism from the most cutting criticism in official channels). These two things are small in comparison to ruthlessly attacking the structure, demanding worker control, using influence to radicalize constituents and funding socialist organizations, but they still constitute a pushback of the system in some small way. It should not be a rare occasion for a left-wing politician to stand with wildcat strikes or call Ford a liar. I would argue it was more opportunism than dedication, but, at the very least, action is action.

The dynamic I’m referring to was more at play across the federal NDP. While I’m sure a diplomatic trip to Germany would be well advised in times outside of a labour crisis, it was during a labour crisis. It’s hard to believe the social democrats in Parliament truly care about the biggest attack on workers in recent memory when they’re meeting with German colleagues. The ONDP’s actions were remarkable because of their rarity. Similar tactics have not been employed in issues such as Ford’s selling of the Green Belt. Therefore it makes more sense to lower expectations and not to expect this level of action from the electoral left, considering their behaviour relating to most other political issues.

That’s because the one factor that absolutely pushed back against Ford’s attack on workers rights was the threat of a general strike. CUPE’s announced press conference on the 6th came with reports of this intention. Once it was public, Ford scrambled to call a press conference before CUPE’s. Once it was held, he offered to repeal Bill 28 and the use of the notwithstanding clause. While the dispute is far from over, worker power definitively forced Ford and the Progressive Conservatives to back down. US rail workers and any socialist worth their salt should recognize this and work outside the electoral system to bring worker justice. Anyone who used their time and analysis to defend, explain or otherwise run cover for democratic socialists and their strike-breaking is not worth your time.