As the long-awaited results of the ratification vote for the contract brought forward by the Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU) were announced, there was a wave of anger over the yes vote. Workers said they were “bullied”, “this is bull&!”, “you built us up and let us down”, “many will be leaving the position because they can’t afford to work”, “screwed for another 4yrs!!!”, “we were so united and now divided… this contract does absolutely nothing to help students or ease our difficulties in our classrooms”, “this whole thing stinks”, “this is awful! This is not the outcome we needed”. There were literally hundreds of similar comments. How did we get from a historic victory of workers against back-to-work legislation and the notwithstanding clause, to this disappointing final contract?

On 26-27 November, the sixth International Francophone School of the International Marxist Tendency took place in Geneva, Switzerland. Nearly 150 activists and sympathisers of the IMT from Switzerland, France, Quebec and Belgium participated in this weekend of training in Marxist ideas. About 30 others followed the event via Zoom from Montreal, Quebec.