Meet Hayssam
A tenacious organizer who is passionate about workers' rights, Hayssam Hulays, has been an OSSTF/FEESO Union activist since he started his teaching career in 2002. He has provided leadership at the bargaining unit, district and provincial levels and has represented OSSTF members as a Branch President, as a Teacher Bargaining Unit Executive Officer, as an OTF Governor and now as a member of the Provincial Executive.
While a local time release officer responsible for communications and political action, in the lead-up to our fight against Doug Ford and Stephen Lecce in 2019/20, Hayssam coordinated an OSSTF Toronto “EduAction” campaign, which involved several related member-driven initiatives, including a summer training institute for local activists, the development of school action teams ready to plan local and neighbourhood actions to support our bargaining, and training sessions at individual schools, focussed on the bargaining process and the ideological threats posed by Ford agenda.
Hayssam served as chair of OSSTF/FEESO's Human Rights Committee, vice-chair of OSSTF/FEESO's Collective Bargaining Committee, and was a member of the Finance Committee. He was also a Regional Coordinator of the Protective Services Committee.
Hayssam's assignments as a member of PE have included the following:
2022-2023
2021-2023
More about Hayssam
Born and raised in a small town in Lebanon to parents who were both teachers, Hayssam was taught at an early age the importance of public education and civic engagement. As a teenager, he was already active in organizing assistance for those internally displaced due to the Civil War, action that led to threats which eventually forced him to leave Lebanon after graduating from secondary school. Accepted as a refugee in Canada, he has lived in Toronto, Hamilton, and London. As a refugee, he brings lived experience to the pursuit of equity and solidarity, and truly understands all our members’ need for financial stability and improved working conditions.
Hayssam’s considerable union experience is not limited to OSSTF. After first joining the executive as External Liaison Officer, he also served as Secretary-Treasurer and then Chair (president) of CUPE 3902, an education workers’ union at the University of Toronto. As Chair, he led the bargaining of a collective agreement through a two week strike, winning important gains for precarious education workers.
The Local could not have prepared itself better without Hayssam's energy and dedication. His efforts were crucial when it came to planning, organizing, building consensus, meeting with the press, rallying the members, and negotiations with the University. His strengths are many and we were lucky to have him, whether at the barricades or in the boardroom.
Sean Allen-Hermenson, former executive member with CUPE 3902
Professor of Philosophy, Florida International University