Alex Silas of PSAC on Harnessing Collective Power for Change

There’s strength in numbers. 💪That’s the power of the labour movement – harnessing our collective power to raise the standard of living for all workers in Canada. 

Join Heidi Yetman, CTF/FCE President, for a conversation about the power of member mobilization with Alex Silas of the Public Service Alliance of Canada. 

This episode discusses:  

• Importance of mobilization and collective action
• The power of solidarity and collaboration
• Successful mobilization strategies, including how to leverage digital media,  
• And more. 

Pour écouter l’épisode en français : https://www.buzzsprout.com/1915283/14128636 

DISCLAIMER: This episode was recorded on October 30, 2023. As of December 4, QPAT began strike action on November 6, ETFO reached a tentative agreement on November 21, and OECTA filed for conciliation on December 1.

The episode transcript is auto generated and therefore cannot guarantee 100% accuracy.

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The CTF/FCE is mobilizing our members across the country to address the nationwide teacher retention and recruitment crisis. Subscribe to Source to be the first to know when our Season 3 launches, which will tackle the various issues looming over public education in Canada, share real stories from real people, and explore possible solutions. 

The Source podcast is produced by the CTF/FCE in Ottawa, on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe People. / La balado Source est produite à Ottawa, sur le territoire traditionnel non cédé du peuple algonquin anichinabé, par la CTF/FCE.

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Views expressed do not necessarily represent the policies nor the views of the CTF/FCE. / Les points de vue exprimés dans cet épisode ne représentent pas forcément les principes directeurs ou les points de vue de la CTF/FCE.

Transcript

Alex Silas: 0:00

But when we all unite and we all really come together, we are really one of the strongest forces on this planet, workers united. So, it's really important to do everything we can to help workers understand that collectively we are so much stronger than they want us to be.

Lynne Parisien: 0:24

Hey there, and welcome back to Your Source, connecting you to the stories behind Canada's education ecosystem. Today we're pleased to bring you a new episode with labour activist, Alex Silas of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, or PSAC. Alex represents over 60, 000 PSAC members in the National Capital Region, commonly known as NCR. He is a leader in his own right as the first member of a directly chartered local, the youngest member of PSAC's national board of directors in the union's history, and a proud Acadian. In this episode, Alex and Heidi Yetman, CTF/FCE president discuss leadership and encouraging others to get involved, the power of collective action, coalition building, successful mobilization strategies, including how to leverage digital media, and so much more. We hope you enjoy our conversation with Alex.

Heidi Yetman: 1:35

Alex, it's so great to see you again. We had the pleasure to have you at our National Conversation with the CTF/FCE Board Members on September 28th. And I remember you talking a little bit about yourself and some pivotal moments in your life. Do you want to tell me a little bit about yourself and how you got where you are?

Alex Silas: 1:55

Yeah, for sure. And thanks for having me. It's a real pleasure to be on the show and always cool to come down to the CTF building. Yeah, so a bit about myself. So I'm the regional executive vice president for the PSAC in the national capital region. So representing roughly 62, 000 workers here in Ottawa Gatineau. And I come from the Bank of Canada as a security officer. That was my substantive position. So, my first unionized job was when I got hired at the bank in 2010. And, I come from a union family, so I was raised with union values. And as soon as I got a unionized job, I knew what that meant. I knew what that represented. I knew that I would have the protections of a collective agreement, that I would have better benefits, the ability to negotiate wages collectively. So that meant a lot to me. It was important. And I was always very pro union in the workplace. I became a shop steward almost immediately. But you know, was mainly just involved in my local for most of that time. And then in 2018, I had the chance to go to the PSAC national convention. I was actually the first member of my local to go to a PSAC convention. We're a fairly small local. Right now we're about 60, but when I was there, we were about 50. I was part of an organizing drive to also unionize the security officers in Montreal. That's a whole other story. Yeah, so small, tiny, local. And then I found myself in this convention where I really got to see and feel how huge PSAC is as a union and how diverse and how you know, wasn't just federal government office workers, right. It was like, there's so many different job types and tradespeople and other security workers in PSAC that my local could relate to. And so from there I got involved in the young workers committee in the NCR which eventually led me to running for a member at large position on our regional council. And then I became the alternate REVP and then in 2020 right at the start of the pandemic became the regional executive vice president. So, it's been a real honor to, to do that work and I never lose sight of how much of a blessing it is. Like I'm sure you can relate to to be able to do work that you're passionate about, that is fulfilling. It is such a privilege. So I I never lose sight of that. And I'm always reminding myself that I'm really just a security guard and so I'm very lucky to be doing this. Well,

Heidi Yetman: 4:01

I'm really just a teacher, so I understand completely. Uh, It reminds me a little bit of my path, except I was in the classroom for a very long time, 23 years. But you had mentioned when we met you in September about a pivotal moment. It had something to do with, and I remember I reacted to it because I said, I had a pivotal moment too in 2015 where I felt that government was pushing austerity measures on us, and I really wanted to fight for the workers. Was there a moment like that where you said, or is it really coming from your values growing up with a family that was really involved in unions

Alex Silas: 4:39

Yeah. Well, you know, I, I I like to say that a lot of what has shaped me into who I am is that I'm the son of a nurse and the grandson of a papermaker from Dalhousie, New Brunswick. But that's not really what pushed me into getting involved in the union. Like yourself, I, I did have like a pivotal moment. It was in, we were in bargaining in 2018, so around the same timeline that I got to go to the national convention. And so the Bank of Canada security officers have been unionized since 2005. But because it's such a small unit and because we're the only unionized group in the Bank of Canada and it's the Bank of Canada, you know, like it's a big institution. It's a very powerful institution. So it's very much a David and Goliath type of situation. And for a long time, we weren't very mobilized around bargaining and we were being forced to accept a lot of concessions. And this time in bargaining, we approached it with a different posture, different attitude and said, no, not only are we going to reject any concessions which, you know, not a lot of people realize, but, just having a contract with no concessions is a win because the employer is always trying to take stuff away. Absolutely. So, we wanted a no concessions agreement and we wanted layoff protection language because the bank had just laid off a bunch of our colleagues that were non unionized at the Montreal and Toronto offices and so we were scared the layoffs were going to happen in Ottawa too. So, we wanted layoff protection language. So, you know, I remember being in a meeting to get a bargaining update from our bargaining team. I was, you know, I wasn't on the local executive at the time. I was just like a shop steward and a pro union member in the local. And you know, that's what we were talking about. We need to ramp it up. We need to put pressure on the employer. And we need someone to sort of lead that mobilization work. So then me and my shift partner, we were sitting there, we looked at each other and like, let's do this, like, let's put our hands up and let's sign up for this. And so we did, and you know, it started off with actually, I'm still wearing these bracelets. I've worn these bracelets since 2018. Yeah, we're, it's not a visual medium, but yeah, I'm wearing these two,"I support my bargaining team bracelets", they're bright red. I've worn them since 2018 cause it reminds me why I got involved. But that was it. It was like that day one was of wearing bracelets of wearing buttons to support the bargaining team in a workplace where the employer was not used to that and not friendly to it. You know, there was intimidation and, it took a few of us to sort of, take that leap, take that first step and set the example. And then before not too long, we were all wearing the bracelets and the lanyards and the buttons. And now it's now that I'm no longer at the local, I miss my old crew, but it's continued to grow, which is like that sort of pro union spirit and that, that mobilization, like we were just in a meeting, they're in bargaining again now. And once again, we're at impasse. And, we're at a point where we're talking about like, when do we break out the pink camo pants and start wearing those instead of our uniform, you know, so it's continued to grow, which is amazing, which is a really great thing.

Heidi Yetman: 7:21

So amazing. Yeah. And mobilization is so important. I remember you also saying, to engage and empower your members. So, explain the importance of mobilization. You just, you kind of did that, alluded to that in what you just said but you know, in today's society, if we look at what's going on in the world, how important is mobilization?

Alex Silas: 7:44

Well, I'd say that, you know, the first step to any good mobilization is organization, is to get organized first, right? Is to do your mapping, identify your leaders, identify who has what skills, who can contribute to a campaign or rally or whatever action you're planning. And make sure that you're communicating that to everyone clearly and in a way that they're receiving that information, that they're understanding that information. So organizing really has to be the bedrock of everything we do. But yeah, I mean, you know, the labor movement's real strength is in our members, right? I say all the time, I spend a lot of time at rallies with a megaphone sort of like leading chants and stuff like that. But if there weren't members out there with me, I would just be, you know, A lunatic out on the street screaming into a megaphone, right? The real strength is about having those members with us. And I think, to the point about engaging and empowering, I feel that the role of union leaders, like you and I, a big part of that has to be helping unionized workers understand the power that they have because we often feel powerless. Like we are the workers. We are the little guy, so to speak, up against these huge institutions, up against these governments, these big corporations that have more money and resources and institutional power than a worker who has to, you know, focus and prioritize feeding their family and paying their bills and like very real life concerns. But when we all unite and we all really come together, we are really one of the strongest forces on this planet, workers united. So, it's really important to do everything we can to help workers understand that collectively we are so much stronger than they want us to be.

Heidi Yetman: 9:19

Oh, absolutely. And you know, when you have a huge group of workers fighting for their rights, they can change policy. They can change government policy. They can even change government. So it's super, super important. What about collaboration? And of course, you know, I represent about 365, 000 teachers across Canada from different member organizations. So how do you build an effective partnership with other organizations to amplify your voice and support?

Alex Silas: 9:53

Yeah. Coalition building is really important. Before you asked that question, you said something that really resonated with me about like, you know, the power that the workers can have. And I think a great recent example of that has been the mobilizations and the strikes that we've seen from education workers, right? There was the CUPE-OSBCU folks last fall. There was all the teachers unions in Ontario out on strike in 2019. And, one of the things that made that really effective from my perspective was that, you know, you really got the public on your side, like it helped to move that public understanding to get parents to understand that like,"Oh, teachers getting better conditions, that's good for my kids too. I want to support that. I want to support better schools, better funding for education". So again, I think that's part of our power, right? Is bringing the public along. But to get back to your question about collaboration. Yeah, I think any coalition, any sort of, partnership or allyship or whatever you want to call it always has to move at the speed of trust. Right. You can't rush anything. You can't force people to commit to what you're trying to do. You have to build the trust first and that's going to take the time it's going to take. And it takes like real meaningful engagement. You know, like, for example If as a union you want to advocate or campaign or push for progress on reconciliation, you have to do real engaging and real conversations and follow the lead of Indigenous communities and organizations that are representing Indigenous communities and doing this work and sort of follow their lead and then build that trust.

Heidi Yetman: 11:18

I like that. Build on Trust. I think that's really important. I don't know if you realize, but as we're recording this today We have a couple of organizations in Ontario that have voted strong for strike mandates. OECTA, which is the Ontario Catholic Teachers Association, ETFO, the Elementary Teachers Federation, also voted very strongly for strike. And the Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers along with the Common Front in Quebec, also voted really strong in favour of a strike, we're talking 95%. It gives you an idea of how angry people on the ground are. So what are some successful strategies and lessons learned when we get down to having to go out on the streets and you know, do the strike action.

Alex Silas: 12:03

Yeah. And I wasn't aware of those strike votes. That's exciting. Going right back to 2019 and good for those workers for speaking up and taking that brave step to vote for a strike. And, you know, the Front Commun/the Common Front in Quebec is a great example of the sort of coalition building and collaboration that you were talking about earlier where, you know, I can, I can't even imagine how difficult it must have been to bring all those unions on the same place to be like, even though...

Heidi Yetman: 12:25

lots of meetings.

Alex Silas: 12:26

Lots of meetings, yeah. Even though we're part of different federations, we're different unions, we have different priorities, let's find what we can agree on and and move forward on that. But as far as strategies, I mean, I think for me one thing that I often remind myself is that you need to meet people where they're at, right? Like I think I would be considered like probably A progressive person maybe a radical by some like, you know, I think my personal opinions on certain things are in a progressive place that others may not be and then when it comes to militancy or organizing or mobilizing, you know, I'm ready to block cars at the drop of a hat, right? Let's go, like day one. Let's block doors. Let's block cars. Let's, you know, but you gotta understand that not everybody's there, right? And for a lot of union members You know, we got to count on our rah rah activists, but we also got to bring along the rank and file members who are just, you know, they're workers. In your case, they're teachers. In my case, they're federal public service workers or, you know, and any other worker that, that our unions represent. But they're not necessarily union activists from day one, they're just dues paying workers who trust their union and who will, We hope follow their union into a strike or into an action or a rally. But you gotta meet them where they're at and be realistic about what their comfort level is and how much they're willing to escalate. And then you bring them along, right. And you escalate. Slowly and progressively and in a sustainable way, to bring people along whether that's building public understanding on an issue or whether that's just getting people to go from a place where they're okay standing on the sidewalk carrying a flag, but then getting them to a place where they're, you know, blocking doors all of a sudden, and you can bring people along, but you can't move too fast too soon, you know? And that's, for me, that's a challenge because I'm like not, patient of a person. Like, you know, I like to go but I've had to learn some patience and learn to just meet people where they're at and then bring them along progressively.

Heidi Yetman: 14:20

Yeah. Teachers probably won't block doors. We are pretty uh, quiet, but we can get them out on the streets. That's for sure. And I guess part of it might also be, you know, meeting with the members, talking with them, getting them to understand I think it's really important.

Alex Silas: 14:37

Absolutely. Yeah. And being like open and transparent in your communications, and like getting the buy in on the decision, right? Like it can't be the union telling the members, this is what we're going to do. It has to be a dialogue and there has to be a question there of like, what are you prepared to do? Yeah. What are you frustrated about? What are your priorities in this round of bargaining or in this campaign or whatever the context is? What do you want to see happen? Okay, great. What are you ready to do to help make that happen? And then finding out what people's comfort level is and where they're ready to go and then organizing according to that, right? Because if your people aren't ready to block doors right away, then that shouldn't be your plan, you know, but if you can get them out on the street, then plan around that.

Heidi Yetman: 15:15

Exactly. Yeah, no, I think like I said, talking to the members, getting them activated if you want. And we ought to remember, right, the union is the members. And that's super, super important. They need to understand that they are the union. And it comes right around to the power that they have as a group, right? So, Yeah. It's amazing.

Alex Silas: 15:36

And that's a big understanding that we have to try to shift. Like, I mean, I still hear comments, but I remember, you know, often in my local hearing comments of like comparing the union to an insurance company. That's not what we are. You know, we're not just there to provide servicing. The union is the members exactly like you said, and we're there to help tap into and engage that collective power that, that union members have.

Heidi Yetman: 15:58

And do you have any advice for other union leaders or organizers that are looking to improve their mobilization strategies to make a positive impact on their members? Yeah, I mean... Their members lives, I guess, their working conditions, etc.

Alex Silas: 16:13

Yeah I have a hard time giving you advice because I'm not sure, like, I don't know who I am to give anybody advice, but I guess, to listen to people, union work is people work. And you got to listen to people. You got to really hear them out. Like so much of our jobs as elected labor leaders involves like giving speeches, like whether that's at a convention or a conference or at a rally or, you know, doing media interviews, like a big part of our job is talking, right. But we got to listen to, right. And that's maybe more important, I think to really listen to what your members are concerned about and to go get that information, right? Not just wait for the people who are coming to you with their issues, hear them out as well, but make sure that you're being proactive and making efforts to go find people and make yourself accessible to people who maybe aren't contacting the union. Why aren't they contacting the union? Right. Do they know they can reach out? Do they know that there's help available there?

Heidi Yetman: 17:02

I think another big piece would be to kind of see leadership qualities in other people, right? So tapping people on the shoulders and saying, Hey, you need to get involved because you have a great voice.

Alex Silas: 17:13

A hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. And to mentor people as much as possible and help people see their own potential as much as possible, you know, and then encourage people to get involved, encourage people to run for positions. Yeah. And to not, you know, to do a lot of that. Because it's not always going to work out. You know, sometimes the person can be like, no, this is not for me. Stop annoying me with this. But you keep trying with them too, in a friendly way. And then you keep trying with other people too. And you just help bring people along. Yeah. Yeah.

Heidi Yetman: 17:38

Sometimes it takes more than one, one chat.

Alex Silas: 17:40

It usually does. Yeah, it usually does.

Heidi Yetman: 17:42

For sure. And how does technology, social media, play a role in all of this.

Alex Silas: 17:49

Yeah. I mean, like during our recent strike this past spring in the federal government like TikTok played a huge role in that. And that was so cool. Like I remember, you know, I was out on the picket lines all day from very early until very late sometimes with just like setting up the picket lines and then tearing them down and all the like post picket stuff. So it was long days suffice to say. And, you know, I would get such a kick out of being at home at night and like just watching the TikToks and just seeing like these federal public service workers making all these creative TikToks about being on strike. And so, you know, but it's, it was entertaining. It was fun, but it's also such a great engaging and communicating tool. And it could feel overwhelming how many different social media platforms are out there and it's like, which ones do you prioritize? But it's important to realize that some people are more on one platform than the other, you know, like for sure we reached people by putting tick talks out that during the strike and in the prep to the strike, we reached people there that we weren't reaching on Facebook. On Facebook, we did a live stream two days before the strike, which ended up having 5, 000 people watching it live. And then just because it then lived on our Facebook page, we had like something like 20, 000 people who ended up watching it.

Heidi Yetman: 18:59

That's incredible.

Alex Silas: 19:01

And during the strike, people would come up to me and be like, Oh, you're the guy from the Facebook live. I recognize you. They weren't getting the newsletter. They weren't checking the PSAC website, but they saw that we went live on Facebook and then others, it was like, Oh, like I saw your TikTok, you know, they didn't see the Facebook live, but they follow us on TikTok and so it's important to use those tools and then, you know, technology covers a lot more than social media. So I think it's also important to use tools like action at work and New/Mode to, again, make it as accessible as possible for members to take action, because there was a time where if you wanted members to write letters to their MP, you had to convince them to sit down and actually write a letter to their MP. Now it's like, send a letter to your MP, click this link, scan this QR code. It'll take you 10 seconds, it'll auto fill all your info. And then based on your postal code, it'll know exactly who your MP is, who your MLA or MPP is, who your city counselor is, whatever, however it's set up and we got the letter already templated there, you can make changes if you want, if you don't, that's fine. And then, it takes you 30 seconds to send your letter. So again, that's sort of like, eases the access to bring people along in that ladder of engagement where they start by sending a click to send action. They start with that and then eventually they come up to a rally and then eventually they're blocking doors. But like I think it was in Saskatchewan the tell them Tuesday. Yeah. Like that's a great example of that.

Heidi Yetman: 20:23

Yeah. And Saskatchewan's doing amazing things right now. They're doing, they call them mini rallies, but I would say that they're major rallies in small communities where they're able to gather like fairly big crowds, very impressive work that they're doing in Saskatchewan, who have also voted for not strike action, but a work action because they're not happy with negotiations at this time. And I think that. I think that if members get out and gather with pickets and flags, there's that unbelievable energy that happens at mobilization rallies and things like that, that you just you can feed off of it almost. I don't know if you get that sensation, but when I'm at a rally or a mobilization, I'm so excited about it and it feels powerful.

Alex Silas: 21:09

Yes. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, sometimes I wonder like, who gets more out of it? Is it us or is it the members that we're trying to pump up? Right? Like, there's such a powerful exchange of energy there, right? You know, I always try to give it my all at rallies and, you know, if I still have a voice by the end of it, I probably didn't chant loud enough, but I'm giving back what I'm getting from that crowd. Right. And there's also like such a powerful community aspect, in rallies, you know, and picket lines, picket lines even more so, cause you know, a rally takes an hour and a half, maybe two hours. A picket line, we're out there all day. So there's a real community that builds around that, which is an important part of it too, because again, you know, you want to build that trust. You want to build that support network. You want to make sure that your people out on the line are well taken care of and that we're taking care of each other.

Heidi Yetman: 21:56

Yeah. I liked being on picket lines too with my coworkers, right? So that, you know, and you build up relationships that you may not have at work because at work you're in different departments and you can't see each other. And then on the picket line, you're all there together. There's something really like you said, it's like a community, which is really important.

Alex Silas: 22:13

Yeah. Employers should just consider strikes team building retreats.

Heidi Yetman: 22:16

Absolutely. I agree. Let's start that up. That's great. This has been really fun. I'm so glad you came in. Is there anything that you want to add? Any thoughts that maybe we haven't, I haven't asked you or?

Alex Silas: 22:29

Well, thank you for having me. This has been really fun and yeah, it's been really good to get to connect more with CTF and with you, Heidi. Anything else? I mean...

Heidi Yetman: 22:37

Some final words?

Alex Silas: 22:39

Yeah, look, I think we're at a very pivotal time in our movement right now, which is so exciting. And I'm just thrilled to be a small part of it is, as I'm sure we all are. Like, I think we're seeing that shift in people's understanding of themselves as workers in the context of the society we live in and what that means, right? What that means politically, what that means economically, what that means in terms of labor rights, in terms of human rights. So it's really exciting to see that shift and to see, you know, more and more people getting involved in their union. And yeah it's going to be a challenging time. You know, we can't forget that there's a federal election coming up and somehow Pierre Poilievre is popular. I, you know, I don't get how that happened. But yeah, so we got some challenges ahead. But I think we're at a point right where there's different extremes pulling us, right? There is an extreme pulling us further into the far-right. We see that with Pierre Poilievre and we also see that with the the convoy occupation of 2022 as well as, you know, the continued mobilizations of the far-right and the attacks on the 2SLGBTQ+ community, and on other marginalized and equity seeking communities as well. Uh, The rise in Islamophobia, the rise in anti semitism like these are all very concerning things. But what gives me hope is that we're seeing also a rise in people, again, understanding themselves as workers, understanding why it's important to fight for human rights, why it's important to fight for workers' rights because these things aren't guaranteed and we could lose them. So I think, you know, we're also seeing some momentum and some increased engagement in the progressive movement as well. And yeah, we're at a pivotal time. So it's going to be challenging. There's a lot of work ahead, but it's exciting too.

Heidi Yetman: 24:12

That's great. There's a lot of work ahead. It's, It is a bit exciting, I have to say. And yes, more power to the unions is what I say. So it was great talking to you, Alex. Thanks so much.

Alex Silas: 24:24

Thank you.

Lynne Parisien: 24:27

Thank you for joining us for this episode with Alex Silas. If you enjoyed this episode, we'd love for you to share with a fellow union member, or better yet, subscribe to our podcast Source. We have many exciting things planned for our next season of Source, so subscribe to be the first to know when it launches in the new year. Check out the show notes for more information. Thank you for tuning in to your Source.