Ontario Public Services Employees Union (OPSEU): A Message of Hope or an Ideological Message?

The following link refers to the 2023 end-of-year and 2024 beginning year messagefrom, among others, J.P. Hornick, president of the Ontario Public Services Employees Union (OPSEU)

https://opseu.org/?fbclid=IwAR1bt-U4H3GRhStElusvLT2tGMBWnYDCbFic5mqWZFHjvi5a47Z1gdshwIA

. In the video, they refer to the creation of seven new equity seats for the executive board. The seven are:

1. Seven Equity Board Members: to represent seven equity-deserving groups. The seven equity groups are based on the OPSEU/SEFPO equity committees and caucuses. They are:
   • Black and/or Racialized – Coalition of Racialized Workers (CORW) 
   • Women – Provincial Women’s Committee (PWC)
   • Young Worker (under the age of 35) – Provincial Young Worker’s Committee (PYC)
   • Francophones – Provincial Francophone Committee (PFC)
   • Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit, Metis) – Indigenous Circle (IC)
   • 2SLGBTQ+ – Rainbow Alliance Arc-en-Ciel
   • Persons with Disability(ies) – Disability Rights Caucus

It is certainly good to see different sections of the working class represented. However, what is the aim of such representation? If Hornick’s own views are indicative of the aims, such aims do not challenge the class power of employers; rather, they presuppose it (see  May Day 2022 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada: The Case of the President of the Ontario Public Services Employee Union (OPSEU), J.P. Hornick, Part One: A Fair Contract and  May Day 2022 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada: More Rhetoric from a Union Rep: The Case of the President of the Ontario Public Services Employee Union (OPSEU), J.P. Hornick, Part Two: Do Corrections Officers Protect Us?). Hornick believes that there is such a thing as a fair collective agreement, fair contracts and fair employment conditions.

Solidarity within the working class is a necessary condition for overthrowing the class power of employers. What also is needed is an explicit agenda to challenge that class power.

OPSEU, so far, only seems to aim to satisfy one of the conditions for challenging the class power of employers–solidarity within its members. Obviously, such solidarity should not be restricted to its own members.

To satisfy the other condition–formulating an explicit agenda to challenge the class power of employers–the members need to engage in criticism of Hornich’s views.