Lessons from the ’96 OPS strike – how we can push back against cuts and privatization
By the members of the OPS Book Club
How can we fight back against politicians who want to cut and privatize the public services provided by OPS workers?
This was one of the thought-provoking questions posed during a recent live reading and discussion of No Justice, No Peace, David Rapaport’s book about the first-ever OPS strike in 1996.
The ’96 strike was a pivotal moment in OPSEU/SEFPO’s history — a time when, despite facing a powerful government determined to dismantle workers’ rights and public services, workers stood together, fought back, and won.
Rapaport, an author, academic, and former OPSEU/SEFPO member, was joined onstage during the event by OPS Bargaining Chair Amanda Usher and Region 5 Regional Vice-President Coleen Houlder. Pam Frache from the Workers Action Centre was also onhand to lend wisdom and insight.
It’s been nearly a quarter-century since Premier Mike Harris left politics, but the government still pushes the story that public services are inefficient, wasteful, and unnecessary and that the only answer is privatization.
Today, another generation of workers find themselves wrestling with the same struggles and smokescreens mentioned in Rapaport’s book.
As other writers like Nora Loreto have clearly laid out, privatization deepens inequality and makes much needed services harder to access. Worse, de-skilling, reduction in staffing levels through attrition, and outsourcing typically costs more to the public. Constant demoralization makes it nearly impossible to do the necessary work of growing, stewarding and protecting public services in this province.
So what lessons can workers today draw from the successful strike in 1996?
“The employer and the government is always going to try to diminish the space within which you operate,” said Rapaport. “We have to think of ways of expanding the space within which we perform our union work, our human rights work, our solidarity politics.”
It is an incredible point and we need to ask ourselves: how can we expand our spaces?
Marshalling the spirit that won the ’96 strike
Since February 10, 2025, a group of OPS Unified members have been meeting bi-weekly to discuss insights from No Justice, No Peace, which draws on oral histories from by OPSEU/SEFPO members about how the inspiring 1996 strike.
In 1996, we saw ourselves as defenders of public services. It’s a dangerous time, and we must recommit to maintaining and improving the quality and accessibility of public services for all.
To keep moving forward and build on victories like the ‘96 strike, we must understand the struggles that have brought us to where we are while also thinking together about how to move forward. This is what the book club sets out to do—we want to reignite conversation and remember why workers took to the streets, stood together, and built community in the face of adversity These are the kinds of stories that need to prevail.
Whether you agree with him or not, David has been incredibly generous in sharing the digital copy of his book, allowing members to read, reflect and draw inspiration from its pages – and even attending some of the meetings.
Members can listen to the event in the link below. It is funny, motivating, and challenges members to think about how we can expand our spaces as union activists.
Listen to an audio recording of Rapaport’s reading
A sincere thank you to David for your time, insights and efforts, and to the dedicated book club attendees.
Collaboratively written by the OPS book club organizers:
Matthew Higginson L503
Chris McConnell L317
Sean Botti L410
Mateo Dorado-Troughton L448
Avi Friedlander L532
Ayesha Jabbar