ONDY Stands With Hamilton Steelworkers

Members of the Ontario New Democratic Youth (ONDY) showed their solidarity with Hamilton steelworkers Sunday evening when they joined picket lines outside a local U.S. Steel plant that had locked out hundreds of its employees after their union refused company-ordered pension cuts.


Youth delegates came straight from the 2010 ONDY Convention, which had seen a marked policy shift to the left as attendees embraced the street-level organizing of the Toronto Young New Democrats. Almost immediately, the new ONDY executive team illustrated their activist approach by dispatching representatives to the Wilcox Street steel mill in support of the United Steelworkers.

With white banner in tow proclaiming their group’s dedication to “socialism and freedom”, ONDY activists arrived on the scene in high spirits, singing “Solidarity Forever” and joining the crowd of 400 workers and their supporters. Company security struggled in vain to close the gates while police looked on, as a dozen ONDY representatives mingled with the workers in a sea of union flags and homemade signs.

Tension had been steadily rising in the days and weeks beforehand as U.S. Steel pressured Local 1005 USW into accepting changes to its pension system.

Management had two key demands: an end to the indexing of pension payments for the plant’s 9000 retired workers, and cancelling the existing pension plan for all new employees by replacing it with a defined contribution retirement savings plan. U.S. Steel claims its austerity measures are necessary to keep the Hamilton plant competitive, but union leaders accuse the company of sowing discord between younger and older workers in a cynical divide-and-conquer strategy.

“They’re trying to incite the younger workers,” said Local 1005 president Rolf Gerstenberger, “to get them to attack the pensioners and to say, ‘we don’t care what happens to the pensioners, nothing to do with us, we’re just worried about our jobs.’ So this is very deliberate on their part.

“They want to see if the younger workers will grovel, if they’ll submit, if they’ll be scared. They’ll do the Chicken Little routine and then they figure they’ll have control of the plant for the next generation. We’re calling on the younger workers, especially, to step up and to take their position and to fight like we did 30 years ago,” he said, referring to the 1981 Stelco strike.

Gerstenberger’s emphasis on young workers was a perfect fit for the ONDY delegation. Picketing workers expressed appreciation for the presence of dedicated young activists in their fight against corporate greed.

Elected representatives of the New Democratic Party were also out in full force, including NDP MPs Dave Christopherson (Hamilton Centre), Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain), Wayne Marston (Hamilton East – Stoney Creek) and MPP Paul Miller (Hamilton East – Stoney Creek).

“You cannot be a Hamiltonian working person and not be outraged by what’s going on here,” said Christopherson, a former president of CAW Local 525, in an impassioned speech to assembled workers.

“What happens to a retiree that enters into a period [of high inflation] with no protection whatsoever?” he demanded. “What’s the purchasing power of that pension? What’s the quality of their life? Why is that an issue here, when we’ve got so many people who’ve already worked a lifetime and they deserve that damn pension!”

The ONDY delegation remained at the gates for hours until the crowd finally began to disperse, leaving picketing to volunteers who signed up for 4-hour shifts.

As the lockout drags on into the indefinite future, those workers will form the front line of Local 1005’s defence, but they will not be alone. In this difficult struggle, Hamilton steelworkers and their families can count on the loyal and active support of the new ONDY – an energetic and growing organization.

Ontario New Democratic Youth "Fightback" at 2010 Convention

It's been quite a while since my last post, so a few updates may be in order. During the summer, in an amusing turn of events, I was hired as editor of The Garrison, Canadian Forces Base Kingston's community newspaper. My career as a paid propagandist was destined to be shortlived, however, when - days before my probation ended - the base commander made the unceremonious decision to cancel the newspaper. In August I was laid off and destroyed my car in an accident, but these unfortunate events left me more determined than ever to fulfill my dream of moving to Toronto and getting involved with Canadian Marxist groups. At the end of October, I moved to North York with a few thousand dollars in my bank account and endeavoured to find a job during the few months for which I could afford rent.

Following my arrival in the city, I met with representatives of Fightback, who offer what I consider this country's best political analysis. They suggested that I attend the 2010 Ontario New Democratic Youth (ONDY) Convention that weekend in Hamilton, which promised a large presence by Fightback loyalists and their associated group the Toronto Young New Democrats (TYND). In an act of scandalous red-baiting reminiscent of the McCarthy era, the TYND had recently had their charter removed for the apparent crime of "allegiance with Fightback". To my delight, a large and vocal contingent of fellow sympathizers were more than ready to challenge the rightist elements of the party at the convention.


A full write-up of the weekend's political trajectory is available here. True to the article's title, the weekend was indeed an "historic win for the Left". My initial skepticism towards the idea of associating with the NDP - which had largely abandoned any real adherence to socialism in theory or action - dissipated when I saw the immense passion and radical activism of the youth at ONDYCon. Indeed, the more radical elements of the convention largely outnumbered the "moderates". The division was evident in the list of proposed resolutions and amendments we debated over the weekend. All of the most interesting ideas in that document originated in the TYND and Fightback, and addressed real issues of concern to workers and youth: free education, universal dental care, the effects of the G20, a call to fight police brutality, and the further development of the NDP as a mass movement encompassing socialist, anti-war, anti-globalization, feminist, anti-racist, and other ideologies. All other resolutions, suggested by the more moderate elements, were of a fairly dull and bureaucratic nature (e.g. raising the youth age limit from 26 to 30).

As something of an NDP newbie, I was not altogether up to speed on the constitutional debates that periodically erupted over the weekend, but even I could see the sharp divide visible from the beginning between supporters and opponents of Fightback and the TYND. The Toronto-based group had been de-charted without even the courtesy of seeing the charges laid out against them. In addition, their official show trial took place in an "in camera" session, meaning a closed-door meeting with no observers and no records kept. Only days before the convention, an anonymous e-mail was sent out that warned of a "Trotskyist takeover" of ONDY. Whoever was behind that red-baiting, anti-democratic tripe was presumably an insider, since they evidently had access to the official mailing list.

Throughout the weekend, delegates sympathetic to that anti-communist view engaged with Fightback loyalists in a battle for the heart and soul of the party. In the end, every one of the resolutions championed by the TYND and debated at the convention passed with flying colours. New drama came during during the run-up to voting for the new executive team, during which a constitutional drama unfolded in real time. The crucial question was whether only established party members could vote, or if those who had joined at the convention itself could be permitted a voice. Representatives of the NDP Socialist Caucus, including Barry Weisleder, derided such measures as stalling tactics. I had personally encountered similar measures when I was almost denied membership at the registration table on Friday evening, only to have the executive ultimately revert to previous policies.


The final vote was a triumphant victory that helped take ONDY to the left, as all preferred candidates of the Slate for a Democratic and Activist ONDY rode to victory on the coattails of widespread sympathy for Fightback and the TYND. As its first order of business, the new, ethnically and sexually diverse ONDY executive team voted to re-charter TYND - a massive repudiation of the bureaucracy's anti-democratic intimidation strategy. Their provocative move will almost certainly invite retaliation from the party leadership, but what form such reprisals take remains to be seen. Their second move was to order a delegation to support Hamilton steelworkers locked outside their plant, a report of which I have written above for official purposes.

For me, the ONDY convention was a revelation on both a personal and political level. While in Kingston my Marxist agitation was largely a solitary effort, in Hamilton I was bowled over by the passion, intelligence and dedication of the individuals around me. I met some incredible people and realized for the first time how much of an appetite for radical change existed among Canadian youth alienated from conventional politics. TYND had proven itself such a smashing success in organizing by appealing to the real concerns of working class youth that even the rightist party leadership felt compelled to admit its recruiting success. And in-between the spirited political debate, there was also some good old-fashioned partying. It was the best weekend I've had in a long time. Now the hangover begins. But whatever heavy-handed tactics the party leadership responds with, this vital political youth movement has only just begun to make its influence felt.