Monday, October 25, 2010
CANADIAN LABOUR ONTARIO:
CAW DAY OF ACTION:
This Wednesday, October 27, the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) will be holding a day of Action across Ontario where they will protest the continued erosion of workers' rights and benefits by the employers. Here's the announcement of times and places.
CAWCAWCAWCAW
CAW Auto Parts Workers 15,000 Strong Demonstrate Across Ontario
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CAW members in the auto parts sector will be demonstrating outside their respective workplaces on Wednesday, October 27 for a province-wide Day of Action. In more than 100 workplaces across Ontario, workers will be staging rallies, calling for an end to the downward pressure on working conditions and employer demands for severe contract give-backs.
This is the first time such a large-scale effort has been orchestrated by Canada's auto parts workers. The Day of Action also includes a massive outreach effort to non-unionized auto parts workers, including those employed by Magna.
CAW National President Ken Lewenza and Assistant to the President Jerry Dias will be attending the rally at Burlington Technologies, located at 3267 Mainway Drive in Burlington at 12:30 p.m.
Here is a cross section of key rally locations and contact information:
Brampton
Benteler Automotive
9195a Torbram Road - 10:20 a.m.
Gerry Harvey, CAW Local 1285 2nd Vice President (cell) 416-456-2310
Guelph
CPK Interior Products (Formerly Guelph Products)
500 Laird Road - 10:00 a.m.
Robin Dudley, CAW Local 1917 President (cell) 519-993-8985
Ingersoll
Autrans
17 Underwood Road - 11:00 a.m.
Kellee Janzen CAW Local 2163 President (office) 519-425-9028
Hamilton/ Dundas
El-Met Parts
47 Head Street, Dundas - 12:00 p.m.
Randy Smith, CAW Local 504 President (cell) 905-973-3231
Kitchener
Lear Seating
530 Manitou Drive - 11:25 a.m.
Tim Mitchell, CAW Local 1524 President (cell) 519-749-5110
London/ Glencoe
Cooper Standard
268 Appin Road, Glencoe - 11:00 a.m.
Tim Carrie, CAW Local 27 President (cell) 519-318-1022
Oakville
Automodular
2335 Speers Road - 11:00 a.m.
Angus MacDonald, CAW Local 1256 President (cell) 905-467-5133
Stratford
Cooper Standard Automotive
1030 Erie Street - 10:00 a.m. rolling to 12:30 p.m.
Kim Kent, CAW Local 4451 Vice President (cell) 519-272-9004
St. Thomas
Legatt & Platt (formerly Crown North America)
43 Gaylord Road, Unit #2 - 12:00 p.m.
Ryan Dolby, CAW Local 2168 President (office) 519-631-2005
St. Catharines
Tora Investments Inc.
15 Cushman Rd - 12:00 p.m.
Wayne Gates, CAW Local 199 President (cell) 905-328-9532
Tillsonburg
Reiter Automotive Systems (formerly Mastico Industries Ltd.)
73 Goshen St. - 12:00 p.m.
Fran Ward CAW Local 1859 President (office) 519-688-0051
Toronto
Woodbridge Foam
8214 Kipling Avenue, Woodbridge - 9:30 a.m.
Roland Kiehne, CAW Local 112 President (cell) 416-801-1120
Windsor/ Tecumseh
Canadian Engineering
2265 South Cameron Boulevard - 12:00 p.m.
Gerry Farnham, CAW Local 195 President (cell) 519-980-4195
Integram Seating
201 Patillo Road, Tecumseh - 11:00 a.m.
Dave Cassidy, CAW Local 444 Financial Secretary (cell) 519-999-7708
Woodstock
TRW (Formerly Kelsey-Hayes)
155 Beard's Lane -12:00 p.m.
Ross Gerrie, CAW Local 636 President (cell) 519-535-2014
Labels: Canadian labour, CAW, CAW Day Of Action, demonstrations, events, labour., Ontario, protests
Thursday, October 21, 2010
CANADIAN POLITICS:
PROTEST CETA IN OTTAWA:
CETA, the Canada -EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, is one of those things that has the habit of sneaking up on you gradually. Only at the last moment do you realize that you are in an inescapable trap. Canada has had ample experience of this in the past with NAFTA, and now the federal government wants to tie us to yet another democracy destroying contract.
The following item from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) echoes a call from the Council of Canadians for a demonstration in Ottawa on the 22nd against this agreement. As a public service union CUPE is, of course, most concerned with the way that this agreement will be used to further privatization of public services. As an organization with a nationalist agenda the C0C is most concerned with the loss of Canadian sovereignty that such deals represent. Most important, in my point of view, is the weakening of the potential for significant decentralization in Canada as our polity becomes hamstrung by international restrictions. In any case there are many reasons to oppose such a deal. Here is the notice from CUPE.
CETACETACETA
CETA: Treat or Trick?Just in time for Halloween, Canadian and European Union trade negotiators are in Ottawa next week putting together a monster free trade pact. But this Harper-era trade deal is no treat. It's a trick that threatens workers, First Nations, municipal democracy, our public services and more.
People in both Canada and Europe want public services that are owned and operated by democratically elected governments and run on a not-for-profit basis. There is no place for trade deals that prohibit keeping our services and infrastructure public and keeping our tax dollars flowing back into our communities.
Don't let Harper create a trade monster. Help us chase CETA out of town!
What: rally against CETA organized by The Council of Canadians
Where: Old Ottawa City Hall, 111 Sussex Drive
When: Friday, October 22, 12 - 1 p.m.
For more information:
Tel: 613-233-2773
Email: inquiries@canadians.org
Read more about CETA on the CUPE Privatization Watch Webpage.
Labels: Canadian labour, Canadian politics, CETA, Council of canadians, CUPE, demonstrations, labour., Ottawa, protests, trade deals
Saturday, October 09, 2010
CANADIAN LABOUR GATINEAU QUÉBEC:
SECOND ORGANIZED WAL-MART IN NORTH AMERICA:
A recent Labour Board decision has certified a Wal-Mart in Gatineau Québec as the second unionized Wal-Mart on the North American continent. The only other location now represented by a union is also in Québec in St. Hyacinthe. Previous attempts to unionize Wal-Mart in Québec and in locations as far afield as Texas and Weyburn Saskatchewan have been beaten back either legally or by the expedient of simply closing the outlet affected.
The latter is both a favoured threat and a favoured action on the part of Wal-Mart management. The largest example of this was when Wal-Mart decided to withdraw from the whole German market rather than tolerate unions in its stores in that country. The only country where Wal-Mart is happy to coexist with a unionized workforce is...China. In China's case the "union" is, of course, the official government controlled federation which takes its marching orders from the Communist Party. Nothing could be plainer in pointing out the ideological affinity of neo-conservative managerialism and it communist counterpart. Two sides of one coin.
This Board decision may benefit the workers involved only marginally as the wage increases stipulated were only minimal, and the biggest issue, the use and abuse of the part time system, remained outside the Board's decision. Still it shows that even the Wal-Mart colossus is not invulnerable. It is a shame that the unions involved in Wal-Mart organizing are not imbued with at least a minimum of the internationalism and industrial unionism of the anarcho-syndicalist unions or revolutionary syndicalist unions such as the IWW. Things would go much better then.
Be that as it may if you want to follow the misdeeds of Wal-Mart in more detail Molly can suggest the following sites: Wake Up Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart Watch. It`s almost a classic 'Perils of Pauline' series complete with evil top-hatted capitalist. A refreshing old fashioned morality play in an age when the corporate rulers more often than not adopt fuzzy "progressive" and "new age" public personae. Here`s the story from the CBC.
WMWMWMWMWM
Quebec Wal-Mart workers get rare union deal
Only one other North American Wal-Mart has a collective agreement
CBC News
The contract covers more than 150 employees at the store on Boulevard du Plateau in Gatineau. (CBC) Workers at a Wal-Mart store in Gatineau, Que., have won a new collective agreement, only the second at any Wal-Mart store in North America — but not everyone is celebrating.
A government arbitrator imposed the agreement, after negotiations between the union and retailer were judged to be going nowhere.
The contract covers more than 150 employees at the store on Boulevard du Plateau. It took three years for the United Food and Commercial Workers to unionize the store, and another two years to get the contract.
"We had a first assembly last night to present the first collective agreement that was imposed by the Labour Board of Quebec," said union member Matthieu Allard.
He said the collective agreement gives employees a grievance process, recognizes statutory holidays and considers seniority in determining working hours.
Wages will go up 30 cents an hour this year, and another 30 cents next year. None of the employees, however, would say how much an hour they make now.
The arbitrator modeled it on the contract at the Wal-Mart in St-Hyacinthe, Que., the only other store with such an agreement.
"It might not have been as much as we could have gained in a normal negotiation process, but it's a definite step forward," Allard said.
Some employees at the store think otherwise.
In the parking lot outside the store, Denise Barre said she and her coworkers are disappointed with a 30-cent-an-hour raise, especially when it means paying union dues.
She said only 13 of the 150 employees went to Wednesday night's meeting with the union, which she says shows employees aren't interested.
Barre said she doesn't need this contract.
She said Wal-Mart treats her well and gives her benefits.
In a statement, the company also pointed out that the arbitrator found its wages competitive with other retailers, and adopted the wage scale Wal-Mart proposed.
The union said employees at the store were concerned by Wal-Mart's previous actions at unionized stores, but the Gatineau location is busy, and they hope Wal-Mart will not close it
In 2005, Wal-Mart closed a store in Jonquiere, Que., days before an arbitrator imposed a contract for its employees. The employees took Wal-Mart to court over the closure but lost their case.
In 2008, Wal-Mart also closed a tire shop on Maloney Boulevard in Gatineau after its employees received union certification.
The new agreement has a start date back in 2008, which means the union will be back to negotiating next year.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/10/08/ottawa-wal-mart-deal.html#ixzz11vWkUx1U
Quebec Wal-Mart workers get rare union deal
Only one other North American Wal-Mart has a collective agreement
CBC News
The contract covers more than 150 employees at the store on Boulevard du Plateau in Gatineau. (CBC) Workers at a Wal-Mart store in Gatineau, Que., have won a new collective agreement, only the second at any Wal-Mart store in North America — but not everyone is celebrating.
A government arbitrator imposed the agreement, after negotiations between the union and retailer were judged to be going nowhere.
The contract covers more than 150 employees at the store on Boulevard du Plateau. It took three years for the United Food and Commercial Workers to unionize the store, and another two years to get the contract.
"We had a first assembly last night to present the first collective agreement that was imposed by the Labour Board of Quebec," said union member Matthieu Allard.
He said the collective agreement gives employees a grievance process, recognizes statutory holidays and considers seniority in determining working hours.
Wages will go up 30 cents an hour this year, and another 30 cents next year. None of the employees, however, would say how much an hour they make now.
The arbitrator modeled it on the contract at the Wal-Mart in St-Hyacinthe, Que., the only other store with such an agreement.
"It might not have been as much as we could have gained in a normal negotiation process, but it's a definite step forward," Allard said.
Some employees at the store think otherwise.
In the parking lot outside the store, Denise Barre said she and her coworkers are disappointed with a 30-cent-an-hour raise, especially when it means paying union dues.
She said only 13 of the 150 employees went to Wednesday night's meeting with the union, which she says shows employees aren't interested.
Barre said she doesn't need this contract.
She said Wal-Mart treats her well and gives her benefits.
In a statement, the company also pointed out that the arbitrator found its wages competitive with other retailers, and adopted the wage scale Wal-Mart proposed.
The union said employees at the store were concerned by Wal-Mart's previous actions at unionized stores, but the Gatineau location is busy, and they hope Wal-Mart will not close it
In 2005, Wal-Mart closed a store in Jonquiere, Que., days before an arbitrator imposed a contract for its employees. The employees took Wal-Mart to court over the closure but lost their case.
In 2008, Wal-Mart also closed a tire shop on Maloney Boulevard in Gatineau after its employees received union certification.
The new agreement has a start date back in 2008, which means the union will be back to negotiating next year.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/10/08/ottawa-wal-mart-deal.html#ixzz11vWkUx1U
Labels: Canadian labour, CBC, current events, Gatineau, labour., managerialism, Quebec, tactics, UFCW, Wake Up Wal-mart, Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart Watch
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
CANADIAN LABOUR PETERBOROUGH:
PROTEST AGAINST HOSPITAL LAYOFFS:
You have to admire our political and economic system. Our beloved rulers always have a fine sense of priorities, and they would never let such a trivial thing as patient safety interfere with finding the money for corporate tax cuts and give-aways. It is, after all, more productive to stimulate a live corporation than a dead patient. Here's a story from the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) via the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) about some who oppose such "short-sightedness".
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Hospital staff hold rally to fight cuts in Peterborough
Oct 5, 2010 03:33 PM
Hospital staff from across Ontario rally against the deep cuts to services at Peterborough Regional Health Centre
On October 4, more than 500 workers were in attendance at a rally to show their support to the 252 layoff notices to CUPE members issued by the Peterborough Community Hospital.
In addition to the staff layoffs, the proposed cuts include:
♣Closing the downtown women’s health centre.
♣Dozens of hospital beds to be closed and an untold number of beds to remain unusable because they will not be staffed.
♣Cuts to ICU, medical and surgical beds, infection control and housekeeping.
OCHU president Michael Hurley said, “This is just the beginning, we won’t let this government close community hospital and we will have many other rallies like this one with more and more people.”
Watch the video of the rally and read the article entitled Hundreds protest hospital cuts during union rally from The Peterborough Examiner.
Read more about the struggle to save the hospital on the OCHU Website.
Labels: budget cuts, Canadian labour, CUPE, current events, demonstrations, labour., Ontario, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, Peterborough.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
CANADIAN LABOUR WINNIPEG:
THE WINNIPEG WOBBLY ISSUE #5:
Hot of the press the Winnipeg Wobbly Issue #5. Here's the story from the Winnipeg Wobbly Blog, the local organ of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).
IWWIWWIWWIWW
Winnipeg Wobbly Newsletter #5
Fresh for the Radical Bookfair, check out the newest edition of our newsletter, the Winnipeg Wobbly! Included in this edition:
•The Coming Insurrection at the University of Manitoba
•Winnipeg Municipal Elections: "If voting changed anything it would be illegal"
•Jimmy Johns Workers Join IWW in Increase Minimum wage pay
•IWW Convention 2010 Report
•No to Bill94
Click Here For The Winnipeg Wobbly Vol. 1 Issue 5
Winnipeg Wobbly Newsletter #5
Fresh for the Radical Bookfair, check out the newest edition of our newsletter, the Winnipeg Wobbly! Included in this edition:
•The Coming Insurrection at the University of Manitoba
•Winnipeg Municipal Elections: "If voting changed anything it would be illegal"
•Jimmy Johns Workers Join IWW in Increase Minimum wage pay
•IWW Convention 2010 Report
•No to Bill94
Click Here For The Winnipeg Wobbly Vol. 1 Issue 5
Labels: Canadian labour, IWW, labour., syndicalism, Winnipeg IWW, Winnipeg Wobbly Newsletter
CANADIAN LABOUR NORTHWEST TERRITORY:
NO APPEALS FOR NORTHERN WORKERS:
Workers in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are operating at a disadvantage compared to other Canadian workers as if they are turned down for EI because there is no territorial appeals board. This despite the fact that they pay EI premiums at the same rate as southerners. The Northern Territories Federation of Labour wants to see that changed. Here's the story from the Northern News Service.
NTNTNTNTNT
UNION WANTS EI APPEAL BOARD IN YELLOWKNIFE
Terrence McEachernNorthern News Services
Published Friday, September 24, 2010
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The Northern Territories Federation of Labour says Northerners are being discriminated against because they are being denied a Northern-based Employment Insurance appeal board.
"Based on our place of residence, we're being discriminated against by not having our own EI board of referees," said Mary Lou Cherwaty, president of the federation of labour.
"And that being said, there's lots of money there to do it. Northern workers and employers both jointly pay into the EI fund at a federal level, (so) why aren't we getting the same services?"
Under the present system, residents in either Nunavut or the Northwest Territories wanting to appeal an EI decision must have their case heard via teleconference by an EI appeal board in Edmonton. Cherwaty said the main reason why the current system is flawed is the board of referees in Edmonton doesn't understand the "geographical, cultural and language" differences that exist in the North compared to the rest of Canada.
"For instance, an employee that's working for an employer who ends up having to 'go out on the land.' It's part of their culture. The employer lays him off because he's taken up too much time or he fires him and the person tries to get EI because he's been let go. Someone in Edmonton doesn't understand what 'going out on the land' means," she said.
"So they think he abandoned his job, of course he doesn't get EI, whereas here, somebody would reasonably know that was to provide food and sustenance for his family."
Cherwaty's goal is to establish an appeal board in Yellowknife comprised of members that understand Northern issues. Similar to the 83 other appeal boards across Canada, establishing one in the city would require six board members - two employer representatives, two employee representatives and two chair persons.
She estimates the cost of establishing an appeals board would be $63,256. This figure doesn't include board members' salaries, but does include travel and training costs for the board members at one of the other EI boards in Canada, as well as the costs associated with the Yellowknife office set-up.
Cherwaty has been trying to establish an appeal board in Yellowknife since 2008. Over this time, she's contacted several politicians and government officials about the issue, including Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington. Bevington said he's limited in what he can do because the proposal has a financial obligation and a private member's bill cannot impose any financial obligations on the government.
He also said raising the issue in the House of Commons is difficult because the NDP is limited to four questions during question period, and national issues tend to take precedence.
But Bevington did write a letter to Diane Finley, minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, about the need for an EI appeal board in Yellowknife. In a written response to Bevington dated June 2, 2009, Finley wrote the department hasn't received "any negative feedback" with the current system of conducting hearings via teleconference with Edmonton. The letter also states that neither the NWT nor Nunavut meet the criteria for having an EI appeal board because the number of appeals in these areas falls below the six per month average that is needed.
From 2007 to 2009, the department calculated the number of appeals per month averages 1.8 for Nunavut and 4.2 for the NWT.
Whitehorse has an EI appeal board, and during this same period received 6.1 appeals per month. Cherwaty said if EI applicants considering an appeal weren't discouraged and deterred from doing so under the current system, the numbers of appeals in the NWT and Nunavut would be higher.
Finley was not available for comment.
Labels: Canadian labour, Employment Insurance, labour., Northern Territories Federation of Labour, unemployment
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
CANADIAN LABOUR TORONTO:
TORONTO HOTEL STRIKES CONTINUES:
The Toronto International Film Festival is over, but the rotating strikes at Toronto hotels continue as management refuses to bargain fairly. Here's the story from Linchpin, the website of the Ontario platformist organization Common Cause.
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Strike Continues for Toronto Hotel Workers
By Alex Balch
Toronto, Ont - This year’s TIFF festivities may be over, but for the workers of UNITE HERE Local 75, the struggle against multinational hotel conglomerate Westmont Hospitality Group is just heating up.
Many of the over 2,000 members of Local 75 employed by Westmont are currently working without a contract – some of them since February of this year. Workers accuse the company, which owns or operates 13 hotels in the GTA, of trying to lock its employees into a “permanent recession” - despite the fact that the hotel industry has largely bounced back from the economic crisis of 2008.
“The recession is long over for these guys,” says union organizer Amarjeet Chhabra, speaking about the hotel management. “Yet they’re still using the language of the recession while they negotiate a new contract.”
“Our workers can’t put food on the table, even though many of them are doing the work of two people. It’s just not fair.”
The union has been engaged in a series of high-profile one-day strikes since late June, when workers at the Novotel Toronto Center walked off the job just as the French delegation to the G20 was arriving to check in. Since then they have increased the pressure – carrying out eight such one-day strikes during TIFF.
On Friday September 18, dozens of Hilton employees, joined by workers from the nearby Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel and union delegates from CEP and CAW, staged a picket and rally outside the Toronto Hilton, while volunteer drummers from “Rhythms of Resistance” helped to keep spirits high. The striking workers appeared energized by the extra publicity generated by sympathetic actors and tourists in town for the Festival, and vowed to continue on until Westmont grants them a fair new contract.
Chief among the union’s demands is the granting of stable hours, better health benefits and a living wage.
“What Westmont has done is dramatically cut back on hours and staffing levels. This has meant that people have basically had to work twice as hard as before, for the same rate of pay,” said Laura Mestre, a room attendant, shop steward and member of the UNITE HERE negotiating team.
“I have personally been working for three months with a torn muscle in my left shoulder. I have had to apply for ODSP [Ontario Disability Support Payments] in order to help pay for my medical costs. I’ve brought the subject up with management… but they don’t care.”
According to Chhabra, this type of injury is not uncommon.
“Most housekeeping attendants are women, and that’s a position where lots of workplace injuries occur. Attendants at these hotels are expected to clean sixteen rooms per shift. At the same time, the company has recently added extra furniture, such as double beds, to many of these rooms. So this means that room attendants have more work to do, but haven’t been given more time to do it.” The end result is a rise in workplace injuries, as attendants struggle to keep up with their increased workloads.
The attempts by Westmont to frame the negotiation in terms of a contracting economy seem to fit into a larger general narrative – that of a looming “age of austerity”. Across the western world, unions are facing a coordinated attack on the working class. In Canada, the Harper government’s response to the economic crisis has been to allow large banks and corporations to effectively manage their own recovery, despite the massive subsidies they have received from the country's taxpayers. In the hospitality sector, this has manifested itself in the sacking of unionized workers and their replacement with more precarious workers – often employed by third-party temporary staffing agencies.
Westmont’s appeal to the need for belt-tightening measures - despite a return to healthy quarterly profits - is only made more egregious by the fact that two of its primary financial partners, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup Financial, were at the very epicenter of the 2008 global economic crisis, and have between them received over $50 billion in federal funds from the US Treasury.
It is this attempt to play the unfortunate victim of circumstance, and the company's stubborn refusal to renegotiate a fair contract with its employees that Chhabra says has motivated the workers to strike.
“We want to settle… but we also want a fair contract. And we’re prepared to take any action necessary to get it.”
For more information on the hotel workers' ongoing strike, and for a list of potentially affected hotels, see: http://www.uniteherelocal75.org/jm /
To send a direct message to Westmont, contact them at their Toronto headquarters:
5090 Explorer Drive
Suite 700
Mississauga ON
L4W 4T9
Tel: +1 905 629 3400
Fax: +1 905 624 7805
Labels: Canadian labour, labour., Linchpin, strike.hotel strike, Toronto, Unite Here
Monday, September 20, 2010
CANADIAN LABOUR ONTARIO:
PROTEST MIGRANT WORKER DEATHS IN ONTARIO FIELDS:
The migrant workers support group Justicia For Migrant Workers is calling for two protests over the recent deaths of two migrant agricultural workers in Ontario. The first will be held this Friday at the Ontario Ministry of Labour (see graphic and click for better viewing if needed). The second will be during the Thanksgiving long weekend. Here's a brief notice of them from the Go-Jamaica website.
MWMWMWMWMW
Citizens to protest over Jamaican farm workers deaths
The Canadian lobby group Justice for Migrant Workers is to spearhead a series of protests over two days against the conditions that led to the deaths of two Jamaican farm workers in Ontario just over a week ago.
Thirty-six year-old Ralston Whyte and 44-year-old Paul Roach died on September 10 on the Filsinger Farm from environmental suffocation.
Chris Ramsaroop, the convener of Justice for Migrant Workers says this Friday, his group will be leading a protest outside the gates of the Canadian labour ministry ( the Ontario Ministry of labour actually-Molly ).
On October 10, the group will be leading a 10-hour march in Ontario.
According to Ramsaroop, the group wants to highlight that migrant workers are being forced to operate under substandard and unsafe conditions:
Paul Roach and another Jamaican worker, Robert Samuels, were pumping about six inches of cider vinegar from one tank into another on the Filsinger Farm when the pump stopped working.
The pump is believed to have been clogged by a sludgy substance that develops on fermenting alcoholic liquids that had settled at the bottom of the tank.
It’s reported that Roach climbed inside the tank, to clear the blockage, and was overcome by fumes.
The other victim Ralston Whyte went to help and he too was overcome by the fumes.
Citizens to protest over Jamaican farm workers deaths
The Canadian lobby group Justice for Migrant Workers is to spearhead a series of protests over two days against the conditions that led to the deaths of two Jamaican farm workers in Ontario just over a week ago.
Thirty-six year-old Ralston Whyte and 44-year-old Paul Roach died on September 10 on the Filsinger Farm from environmental suffocation.
Chris Ramsaroop, the convener of Justice for Migrant Workers says this Friday, his group will be leading a protest outside the gates of the Canadian labour ministry ( the Ontario Ministry of labour actually-Molly ).
On October 10, the group will be leading a 10-hour march in Ontario.
According to Ramsaroop, the group wants to highlight that migrant workers are being forced to operate under substandard and unsafe conditions:
Paul Roach and another Jamaican worker, Robert Samuels, were pumping about six inches of cider vinegar from one tank into another on the Filsinger Farm when the pump stopped working.
The pump is believed to have been clogged by a sludgy substance that develops on fermenting alcoholic liquids that had settled at the bottom of the tank.
It’s reported that Roach climbed inside the tank, to clear the blockage, and was overcome by fumes.
The other victim Ralston Whyte went to help and he too was overcome by the fumes.
MWMWMWMWMW
Here's more from the website of Justicia for Migrant Workers about the October 10 demonstration.
MWMWMWMWMW
Pilgrimage to Freedom:
Breaking the Chains of Indentureship
Thanksgiving Weekend -
October 10, 2010
Support migrant workers and allies who will be marching from Leamington to Windsor, Ontario to call attention to the living and working conditions of migrant workers who grow and process our food this Thanksgiving.
Migrant workers are marching to demand status, an end to exorbitant recruitment fees, better housing, safe working conditions and an end to racism and sexism in the workplace.
Allies will be walking alongside workers in solidarity with their call for justice.
Call for Support
1) Donations
· Financial and in-kind donations are needed to help make the march a success and to cover costs of transportation, food and other supplies.
· Please contact Justicia if your organization or local can assist with in-kind or financial support at pilgrimage2freedom@gmail.com
2) March in solidarity with migrant workers
·We are inviting allies to walk alongside migrant workers for some or all of the march. Buses for rest and other support will be provided to marchers during the march.
· Contact Tzazna Miranda Leal or Chris Ramsaroop from Justicia for Migrant workers to register as a marcher and to get more information at pilgrimage2freedom@gmail.com
· Please contact us to register by October 3rd.
3) Spread the word!
· Help share information about the march with members of your community, organization or local.
·Contact Justicia for Migrant workers for copies of posters and other outreach tools at pilgrimage2freedom@gmail.com
Background
Approximately 18,000 migrant farm workers from Thailand, Mexico, Guatemala, the Philippines, and the Caribbean arrive in Canada to work in our fields, orchards and greenhouses every year.
Many workers pay thousands of dollars in fees to recruiters to get work in Canada, sometimes for jobs that do not even exist. Once they arrive, many workers face dangerous working conditions, sub-standard housing and employment standards and human rights violations.
Because of their precarious immigration status, migrant workers have little protection against being sent home by employers for speaking up about their rights. Migrant workers and allies are marching in the Pilgrimage to Freedom to demand status, an end to exorbitant recruitment fees, better housing, safe working conditions and an end to racism and sexism in the workplace.
Justicia for Migrant Workers is a volunteer-run collective that strives to promote the rights of migrant farm workers.
Pilgrimage to Freedom:
Breaking the Chains of Indentureship
Thanksgiving Weekend -
October 10, 2010
Support migrant workers and allies who will be marching from Leamington to Windsor, Ontario to call attention to the living and working conditions of migrant workers who grow and process our food this Thanksgiving.
Migrant workers are marching to demand status, an end to exorbitant recruitment fees, better housing, safe working conditions and an end to racism and sexism in the workplace.
Allies will be walking alongside workers in solidarity with their call for justice.
Call for Support
1) Donations
· Financial and in-kind donations are needed to help make the march a success and to cover costs of transportation, food and other supplies.
· Please contact Justicia if your organization or local can assist with in-kind or financial support at pilgrimage2freedom@gmail.com
2) March in solidarity with migrant workers
·We are inviting allies to walk alongside migrant workers for some or all of the march. Buses for rest and other support will be provided to marchers during the march.
· Contact Tzazna Miranda Leal or Chris Ramsaroop from Justicia for Migrant workers to register as a marcher and to get more information at pilgrimage2freedom@gmail.com
· Please contact us to register by October 3rd.
3) Spread the word!
· Help share information about the march with members of your community, organization or local.
·Contact Justicia for Migrant workers for copies of posters and other outreach tools at pilgrimage2freedom@gmail.com
Background
Approximately 18,000 migrant farm workers from Thailand, Mexico, Guatemala, the Philippines, and the Caribbean arrive in Canada to work in our fields, orchards and greenhouses every year.
Many workers pay thousands of dollars in fees to recruiters to get work in Canada, sometimes for jobs that do not even exist. Once they arrive, many workers face dangerous working conditions, sub-standard housing and employment standards and human rights violations.
Because of their precarious immigration status, migrant workers have little protection against being sent home by employers for speaking up about their rights. Migrant workers and allies are marching in the Pilgrimage to Freedom to demand status, an end to exorbitant recruitment fees, better housing, safe working conditions and an end to racism and sexism in the workplace.
Justicia for Migrant Workers is a volunteer-run collective that strives to promote the rights of migrant farm workers.
Labels: Canadian labour, demonstrations, farm workers, Justicia for Migrant Workers, labour., migrant workers, Ontario
Sunday, September 19, 2010
CANADIAN LABOUR VANCOUVER ISLAND:
THE VANISLE IWW BLOG:
Well, it's as official as it's going to get. The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) are now officially present in Canada from coast to coast. As previously reported here at Molly's Blog there is a Halifax branch of the IWW (see our Links section under IWW Canada) , and now there is a branch for Vancouver Island wobs. Molly waits with bated breath for a Newfoundland and a Yukon branch. To say nothing of the employees at the Anne of Green Gables park organizing. While you bide your time waiting with me check out the new Vancouver Island blog. All the best to the Vanisle wobs.
Labels: Canadian labour, IWW, labour., syndicalism, Vanisle IWW
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
CANADIAN LABOUR ONTARIO:
FARM WORKER DEATHS SHOW NEED FOR CHANGES:
The recent deaths of two Jamaican migrant workers in southern Ontario highlights the need for changes in the system of migrant labour employment. Here's a press release from the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) on what happened.
FWFWFWFWFW
Migrant worker fatalities at Ontario farm under investigation
Deaths of two Jamaican seasonal workers at Ontario agriculture operation was “job-related” says Jamaican official
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Sept. 12, 2010) -
The cause of death of two Jamaican migrant agriculture workers who died Friday, September 10, at a central Ontario farm is still under investigation. The chief liaison officer in the Jamaica Liaison Service (JLS) in Toronto would only describe it as a "job-related accident".
The two men, aged 36 and 44, were working at the Filsinger's Organic Foods apple orchard and processing facility in Ayton, Ontario - about 70 kilometers south of Own Sound. Their bodies were transferred to a hospital morgue in Hanover, Ontario awaiting an autopsy.
Provincial police and the Ontario Ministry of Labour are conducting an investigation. The names of the victims have not been released.
"We are saddened by the death of these two men, and our sincere condolences go out their families," said Wayne Hanley, the National President of UFCW Canada, and the Agriculture Workers Alliance (AWA).
For more than two decades UFCW Canada has led the campaign for improved safety and workplace rights for migrant and domestic farm workers. UFCW Canada, in association with the AWA, operates ten agriculture worker support centres across Canada, including centres in Leamington, Simcoe, Virgil and Bradford, Ontario.
"The deaths of the two workers in Ayton is a tragic reminder of the dangers and risks in involved in the agriculture sector," said Hanley, the leader of Canada's largest private-sector union.
"Certainly what happened has to be investigated, but at the same time the Ministry of Labour must also take a more proactive role - with stepped up inspections and increased regulations - to reduce and prevent farm place fatalities and accidents."
Jamaican migrant agriculture workers have worked each season in Canada since 1964. This season more than 6,000 Jamaican migrants were employed on over 300 Canadian farms.
/For further information:
www.ufcw.ca
www.awa-ata.ca/
Labels: Canadian labour, deaths, farmworkers, labour., Ontario, UFCW, workplace deaths, workplace safety
Monday, September 13, 2010
CANADIAN LABOUR TORONTO:
MORE DRAMA OUTSIDE THAN IN THE FILMS:
As the glitterati gather for the Toronto International Film Festival hotel workers represented by UniteHere continue rotating one day strikes to pressure the hotel management to see reason and negotiate. Ten Toronto hotels are in strike position, and as of this writing three have already seen strike action. Here's the story from the UniteHere website.
TLTLTLTLTL
Local 75 Workers Strike Three Hotels During Toronto Film Festival
September 12, 2010
Hotel workers at the Hyatt Regency have staged another one-day walkout Sunday, September 12, bringing to three the number of hotels experiencing strikes during this year's Toronto International Film Festival.
Hotel workers, who also staged a one-day strike at the Westmont-owned Fairmont Royal York last Friday and the Holiday in on Bloor St. on Saturday, have earned the full support of the film sector including ACTRA Toronto, IATSE Local 873 and film celebrities including Martin Sheen. "The film industry relies on the hotel sector, and we're not going to stand by and let these hotel workers be exploited," said Heather Allin, Toronto president of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists.
"As TIFF celebrates the new Bell Lightbox with a street party for Torontonians, and the Hyatt boosts its profits with film guests this week, we continue to be treated like second-class citizens by the Hyatt owners," said Althea Porter-Harvey, a Room Attendant at the Hyatt Regency. "We deserve better than that. We're joining the street party today."
Local 75 spokesperson Cruz-Haicken explained that all of the hotels being targeted for these demonstrations are owned by the same company, which is engaged in contract talks with UNITE HERE.
"We exercised restraint and have provided quality service at Toronto hotels owned by Westmont through the G20, the Queen's visit, Pride Week and Caribana," added Porter-Harvey. "Westmont has had ample time to sit down and negotiate with us as contracts have expired, but they've chosen to ignore us and treat us with disrespect."
Striking workers contend hotel management is trying to lock them into cutbacks and new shift schedules imposed during the recession.
Labels: Canadian labour, labour., strike., Toronto, Toronto International Film Festival, Unite Here
Friday, September 10, 2010
CANADIAN LABOUR TORONTO:
NORTEL RETIREES SUPPORT RALLY:
Here's another support rally coming up next week, this one from the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW). The Nortel company has been using Canada's bankruptcy laws to avoid their pension obligations. Former Nortel workers are demanding that alternatives to the usual pension plan wind-up be found. One such alternative is the Financial Support Model as proposed by the Nortel Retiree's Protection Committee. Please go to their website for more details and also to see how you can support the Nortel pensioners. Here's the announcement.
NPNPNPNPNP
Nortel Workers Rally at Queen's Park: September 15
------------------
The CAW national union is calling on all retired workers, local unions and other allies to come to Queen's Park in Toronto on Wednesday, September 15 at 12 noon to support former Nortel workers.
The rally is part of the on-going CAW and CLC campaign to demand "Retirement Security for All Workers."
The Nortel Retirees and former employees Protection Canada (NRPC) have been lobbying the Ontario government to explore alternatives to a conventional pension plan wind-up.
The CAW is asking that all local unions, Retired Workers chapters and area councils organize buses in their respective areas. Jenny Ahn, director of the CAW retired workers department, said the rally highlights the importance of government action on the issue.
"We need to keep the pressure on all levels of government to fulfill their moral obligation to ensure our pensions are funded and fully protected," said Ahn.
For more information and bus locations contact CAW National Coordinator Dean Lindsay at 1-800-268-5763, ext. 3791 or (416) 497-4110, ext. 3791.
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The Nortel retirees protection Association has a rather restricted mandate, mostly dealing only with ex-employees of Nortel in Ontario. There is, however, a new national organization of pensioners the Silver Fox Alliance that is more national and not company restricted. Check out their website, especially in regard to the following petition regarding the federal Bill C-501. This is a motion before Parliament that has passed second reading despite the fact that it has the support of only 12 Conservative MPs. It aims to reform federal bankruptcy legislation such that workers' pensions are secured during the bankruptcy process. Go to the Silver Fox website to sign the following petition.
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To: The Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper, The Hon. Jim Flaherty, The Hon. Tony Clement.
We the undersigned implore you to pass Bill C-501 third reading before Sept. 30. It is time to stop the unconscionable harm inflicted by current bankruptcy laws on Canadian pensioners. We have a voice.
Let it not be said, " Sirs, you had a choice"
Labels: Canadian Auto Workers, Canadian labour, Canadian politics, labour., Nortel, Nortel Retirees protection Committee, pensions, petitions, protests, rallies, Silver Fox Alliance
Thursday, September 09, 2010
CANADIAN LABOUR BRANTFORD ONTARIO:
SOLIDARITY PICKET WITH ECP WORKERS:
The following call for a solidarity anti-scab picket in Brantford Ontario comes from the Ontario Federation of Labour and its President Sid Ryan. Workers at Engineering Coated Products (ECP) in Brantford have been on strike for over two years, but the company continues to operate due to scab labour. You can read more about this strike in this article from the Brantford Expositor. For further information about how you can help the strikers see the website of the Brantford Labour Council.
ECPECPECPECP
ANTI-SCAB RALLY SEPTEMBER 15, 16, 17, 2010
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
In the City of Brantford, less than two hours from Toronto, 84 brave workers have been on strike against their employer for the past two years. The employer has managed to keep these workers out on strike for two long years because they have been busing scabs across the picket lines. The employer, ECP, has demanded a 25% rollback in wages and benefits which the membership of USW Local 1-500 have bravely resisted. Not one striker out of the 84 has crossed the picket line.
I am asking you to join me in support of these brave workers for a massive three-day anti-scab solidarity rally at the picket line. We will also be demanding that the Liberal government enact legislation in Ontario that prevents employers from exploiting workers by using scabs during labour disputes.
The Local and the Brantford Labour Council will open the Labour Centre forany activists that wish to billet over night. As well, there will be areas to pitch a tent or spaces to park camper trailers. We cannot allow this employer and - by extension any other employer in Ontario - to take advantage of workers in this fashion. What’s happening in Brantford to these workers can only be described as abusive. We can and we must stop this abuse.
I urge you to debate this vital matter in your locals and get your members out to Brantford. Let’s draw a line in the sand in Brantford and say loud and clear to employers and to the Liberal government that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. We demand ANTI-SCAB legislation in Ontario. If it’s good enough for BRITISH COLUMBIA and QUEBEC it’s good enough for ONTARIO.
In solidarity,
Sid Ryan
President
Ontario Federation of Labour
Anti-Scab Letter (PDF)
Anti-Scab Flyer (PDF)
ANTI-SCAB RALLY SEPTEMBER 15, 16, 17, 2010
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
In the City of Brantford, less than two hours from Toronto, 84 brave workers have been on strike against their employer for the past two years. The employer has managed to keep these workers out on strike for two long years because they have been busing scabs across the picket lines. The employer, ECP, has demanded a 25% rollback in wages and benefits which the membership of USW Local 1-500 have bravely resisted. Not one striker out of the 84 has crossed the picket line.
I am asking you to join me in support of these brave workers for a massive three-day anti-scab solidarity rally at the picket line. We will also be demanding that the Liberal government enact legislation in Ontario that prevents employers from exploiting workers by using scabs during labour disputes.
The Local and the Brantford Labour Council will open the Labour Centre forany activists that wish to billet over night. As well, there will be areas to pitch a tent or spaces to park camper trailers. We cannot allow this employer and - by extension any other employer in Ontario - to take advantage of workers in this fashion. What’s happening in Brantford to these workers can only be described as abusive. We can and we must stop this abuse.
I urge you to debate this vital matter in your locals and get your members out to Brantford. Let’s draw a line in the sand in Brantford and say loud and clear to employers and to the Liberal government that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. We demand ANTI-SCAB legislation in Ontario. If it’s good enough for BRITISH COLUMBIA and QUEBEC it’s good enough for ONTARIO.
In solidarity,
Sid Ryan
President
Ontario Federation of Labour
Anti-Scab Letter (PDF)
Anti-Scab Flyer (PDF)
Labels: Brantford Labour Council, Brantford Ontario, Canadian labour, Engineering Coated Products, labour, Ontario Federation of Labour, pickets, rallies, solidarity., strike.
Monday, September 06, 2010
ANARCHIST THEORY:
ANARCHIST THOUGHTS ON LABOUR DAY:
It's 'Labour Day' in the anglosphere. Elsewhere most of the world ,and many in English speaking countries as well, celebrate May Day as the real Labour Day. Be that as it may here's an interesting and timely article from Linchpin. Linchpin is the site and magazine of the Ontario platformist group Common Cause. Unlike many of the self-congratulatory messages that will be coming forth today this article sees that there are indeed problems with the way labour is organized today, and it points to some possible solutions. I find little to disagree with in what follows though I have to admit that I haven't gone through it with my usual nit-picking comb. What is especially valuable is the suggestion that workers should form organizations seperate from but in sympathy with the unions. Well disposed union leaders may see this as a Godsend as it will "let them off the hook" for actions that are necessary but either outside the scope of unions or perilous for them to undertake. as to those who are not well disposed, well more's the pity. Here's the article.>>>
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It’s the class struggle, stupid!
Organized labour’s confused response to the McGuinty Liberals' attack on Ontario’s working-class
By Ajamu Nangwaya and Alex Diceanu
Organized labour in Ontario will continue to put forth a weak and ineffective response to attacks from the ruling class as long as it continues to ignore the reality of class struggle. A perfect example is its current response to a proposed two-year wage-freeze that the Dalton McGuinty-led Ontario government plans on imposing on unionized public sector workers. The provincial Liberals would like to save $750 million per year from a wage-freeze, so as to help manage the $19.3 billion budget deficit. Readers need not be reminded that this deficit is the result of the risky financial speculations of the captains of finance, industry and commerce that created the Great Recession of 2008.
But it is the 710,000 unionized members of the working class and 350,000 non-unionized managers and other employees who draw pay cheques from the government[1] and the users of state-provided services (and private sector workers) who are being asked to bear the burden of paying for the actions of the corporate sector. At the same time as this attempt to take income from the pockets of government workers, the McGuinty Liberals’ have granted a $4.6 billion tax-cut to the business sector.
The leader of the Ontario New Democrats, Andrea Howarth, has signaled her support for public sector workers’ acceptance of a pay cut. She asserts, "I'm quite sure when they get to the bargaining table they will do their part like everyone else does ... there is a collective bargaining process that has to be respected."[2] Wow! Who said that the working-class needs enemies with “friends” like the New Democratic Party (NDP) and its leader Andrea Horwarth?
However, it is the tame and even puzzling reaction of some of Ontario’s major labour leaders that should be of concern to workers in the public sector. The government called labour leaders and employers from the broader public sector to “consultation” talks on the wage freeze on July 19, 2010. Coming out of the talks, this was what CUPE-Ontario president Fred Hahn had to say, “This is not like the early ’90s, this is not about sharing the pain. That’s all just not true”.[3] He was referring to former NDP premier Bob Rae’s unilateral opening of public sector workers’ contracts and the imposition of public sector wage-cuts accompanied by tax increases for the corporate sector. Was Brother Hahn implying that a wage-freeze would be tolerable, if accompanied by the cancellation of the $4.6 billion corporate tax-cut?
No credible union or union leader should contemplate a zero-wage increase over two years - even if the government rescinds the $4.6 billion tax-cut. There should not have been a tax-cut for the capitalist class. Restoring the tax should not be used as a bargaining chip to escape a wage-freeze on public sector workers.
Not to be outdone was the president of the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union, Warren (Smokey) Thomas. We will leave it to you to decipher the implicit message in the following statement by Smokey Thomas. “Just because he [Minister of Finance Dwight Duncan] wants something doesn’t mean he’s going to get it. It’s not a social contract. He can propose (a wage-freeze) but he has to bargain it. He can’t legislate it. He’ll lose.”[4] Is it just us or does that sound like a labour leader who is not really in a fighting spirit and just wants to make a deal?
A simple matter of misguided policy?
However, the critical issue for Ontario’s public sector workers is the extent to which many of our labour leaders seem to be completely unaware of the state and employers’ motives for disciplining labour through wage concessions. Ismael Hossein-zaded of Drake University made the following observation, which is quite applicable to the posturing of labour leaders in Ontario:
Quote:
Viewing the savage class war of the ruling kleptocracy on the people's living and working conditions simply as “bad” policy, and hoping to somehow—presumably through smart arguments and sage advice—replace it with the “good” Keynesian policy of deficit spending without a fight, without grassroots‟ involvement and/or pressure, stems from the rather naive supposition that policy making is a simple matter of technical expertise or the benevolence of policy makers, that is, a matter of choice. The presumed choice is said to be between only two alternatives: between the stimulus or Keynesian deficit spending, on the one hand, and the Neoliberal austerity of cutting social spending, on the other.5
Based on some of the statements coming from labour leaders, they may not have gotten the memo that the attack on the working-class (through the slashing of social programme spending, attacks on private sector pensions and wage freezes) is not about good or bad economic policies. Hossein-Zedad must have been inspired to write his paper after reading the following Keynesian-inspired comment by Ontario Federation of Labour president Sid Ryan; “From a policy perspective, it makes no economic sense whatsoever. You’ve got a government saying we need to stimulate the economy. The best way of stimulating the economy is through public-sector workers who spend every single penny of their disposable income in their local communities,”[6] But it’s not about the economy, per se. It’s the class struggle, stupid!
Canada’s economic and political elite have clearly given up the ghost of Keynesian economics, which calls on government to either stimulate or restrict the demand for goods and services based on the state of the economy. In the case of the 2008 crisis in capitalism, these neoliberal players felt forced by the magnitude of the impending financial collapse to pump money into the economy. A not-too-insignificant fact was lost on many observers and commentators who gleefully cheered on the capitalist class’ “Road-to-Damascus” moment. The capitalist state in Canada and other imperialist countries will do everything within their power to maintain a business environment that facilitates the accumulation of capital or profit-making, as well as legitimize the system in the eyes of the people. That is all in a day’s work for the state…no surprise here for class conscious trade unionists and other activists!
Labour’s “Response”
We ought to note that the recent crisis in the economy caught organized labour off-guard and ill-prepared to mobilize the working-class against that monumental failure of capitalism. For decades, Western corporations and governments have been force-feeding the public a steady diet of tax-cuts. Lower taxes on businesses, high-income earners and the wealthy, the widespread slashing of social services and income support programmes, a massive reduction in state oversight and regulation of corporations and the enactment of anti-union policies and legislation have been the all rage since corporations and Western governments abandoned their class-collaborationist pact with organized labour in the 1970s. Yet at the very moment when capitalism experienced a crisis of confidence resulting from a set of policies that had been hailed as perfect ingredients for economic and social progress, organized labour was caught with its pants down. Its leaders didn’t have a class struggle alternative to Keynesian economics – an economic tendency that was never intended to be used as a tool to end wage slavery and the minority rule of bankers, industrialists and the managerial and political elite.
Presently, the labour movement is ideologically and operationally ill-prepared to effectively face down the two-year wage-freeze demand from the McGuinty Liberals. Unfortunately, labour’s leaders have, in the main, focused on narrow economic demands rather than seeking to politically develop union activists and their broader membership behind a class struggle labour movement platform. Union members have been politically deskilled and demobilized in favour of a social service model of trade unionism. These labour leaders have failed to use their unions’ courses, workshops, week-long schools, publications and other educational resources to educate members of the fact that they are a part of a distinct class with economic and political interests that are different from that of the rulers of capitalist society.
Even the most casual of observers understand that organized labour’s raison d’être is to champion the material concerns of the working-class. And yet, ideologically-speaking, most labour leaders in Canada have cast their lot in with capitalism - albeit a more Scandinavian version. This is why a coherent critique of capitalism is notably absent from most union-organized workshops and events. It should therefore not come as a surprise that many union members have swallowed the employers and politicians’ message that Canada is a largely middle-class country and that our collective aspiration should be to remain a member of this class. If the labour leaders, academics and the media say that the majority of Canadians are a part of the middle-class, it must be so. The development of a working-class consciousness becomes very difficult (but not impossible) in this kind of political environment.
The great majority of Canadians are members of the working-class. They sell their labour, exercise little to no control over how their work-life is organized, have no say over how the profit from their labour is distributed and are so alienated from work that the aphorism “Thank god it’s Friday” has its own acronym. One should never define middle-class status as one’s ability to purchase consumer trinkets, live in a mortgaged home or even own a summer cottage. Middle-class status ought to be defined by one’s exercise of power and control and/or the possession of high levels of human capital found among administrative/managerial elites in the private and public sectors, academic elites and independent professionals.
Labour’s Credibility Crisis
The narrow economic obsession of labour leaders was on plain display when Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan revealed the March 2010 Budget. When it became known that the McGuinty Liberals would be seeking a two-year wage-freeze from public sector workers, this news was all that consumed the attention of most labour leaders. Many labour functionaries scrambled around in search of external and internal legal opinions, requesting briefs from senior staff on the impact of a wage-freeze on bargaining in specific sectors and sending out correspondence to members assuring them to “just act as if nothing had happened”, because they’re “already covered by a collective agreement”. Many labour union offices’ and unionized workplaces’ anxiety was centred entirely on the desired wage-freeze by the McGuinty Liberals. Nothing else!
But today we hear labour leaders talking about keeping money in workers’ pockets to stimulate the economy and that their primary concern is maintaining public services at adequate levels. Why didn’t organized labour deploy its resources to educate and mobilize the public against the $4.6 billion corporate tax-cuts, slashing of $4 billion in transportation infrastructure spending from Metrolinx’s $9.3 billion budget7] and the scrapping of the special diet allowance that benefited over 160,000 members of the working-class for the unprincely sum of $250 million per annum and a mere monthly average of $130 per person[8]? The provincial government anticipates that the two-year wage-freeze across the public sector will net a savings of $1.5 billion – yet the previous $8.6 billion effectively stolen from the working class failed to push organized labour into action.
The leaders of organized labour did not have the imagination to energize their members and the broader citizenry in alliance with other social movement organizations over the Budget. They could have exposed the class priorities of the McGuinty Liberals. The government’s main concerns clearly have nothing to do with those of us who are poor, live from pay cheque to pay cheque and do not patronize the golf courses where McGuinty and his friends hang out when they are not screwing the public. Listen up public sector labour leaders: the people will not be fooled by your claims to be advocating for the general interest. The broader working-class just have to simply see where you direct the labour movement’s resources and they will clue into the issues that are being prioritized. Take a look at the poor, working-class and/or racialized areas that are likely to be affected by the $4 billion cut to Metrolinx’s budget:
Quote:
…the austerity moves could affect five planned projects: rapid transit lines for Finch Ave. W., Sheppard Ave. E. and the Scarborough RT, along with the Eglinton Ave. cross-town line and an expansion of York region’s Viva service.[9]
Are we to believe that a class-struggle and anti-oppression informed public education, organizing and mobilization campaign in defense of public services, the social wage and a livable wage would not have had some level of traction with the people of Ontario?
An alternative economic plan or a different labour movement?
In some quarters of the trade union sector, there are talks of presenting an alternative plan to the slash-and-burn neoliberal policies of the provincial government. But, the presentation of Keynesian economic proposals by labour leaders is useless in a climate where the ruling class doesn’t feel threatened by a politically mobilized population, especially without “compelling grassroots pressure on policy makers”.[10] We implied earlier that labour unions have a credibility gap with the broader public if they now assert a desire to “broaden the debate, educate community members and local politicians with a view to engaging in actions that protect public services and build strong communities” as outlined by one union. What would be the purpose of the alternative plans of these labour leaders? The status quo of the 1930s to the 1960s that gave rise to the welfare state is not a transformative option.
There is no such thing as a “contextless” context. Where is the necessary political environment that would force the state to make concessions to the working-class out of fear that they maybe inclined to embrace revolutionary options? When some labour leaders are loosely talking about coming up with an alternative (Keynesian economic plan?) stimulus proposal, they would do well to understand the political implications of the following statement:
Quote:
Keynesian economists seem to be unmindful of this fundamental relationship between economics and politics. Instead, they view economic policies as the outcome of the battle of ideas, not of class forces or interests. And herein lies one of the principal weaknesses of their argument: viewing the Keynesian/New Deal/Social Democratic reforms of the 1930s through the 1960s as the product of Keynes’ or F.D.R.’s genius, or the goodness of their hearts; not of the compelling pressure exerted by the revolutionary movements of that period on the national policy makers to “implement reform in order to prevent revolution,” as F.D.R. famously put it. This explains why economic policy makers of today are not listening to Keynesian arguments—powerful and elegant as they are—because there would be no Keynesian, New Deal, or Social-Democratic economics without revolutionary pressure from the people.[11]
However, when labour leaders shy away from speaking openly about class-struggle and the nature of our economic system, we have a serious problem. It means that they are not in a position to facilitate a class-struggle, democracy-from-below and self-organizing form of trade unionism.
In order fight this attack on the working-class of Ontario, the labour movements’ rank-and-file activists, progressive leaders and principled labour socialists must engage in shop-floor education, organizing and mobilizing that is centred on a class-struggle, anti-racist and anti-oppression campaign. This approach to labour activism must be done in alliance with progressive or radical social movement organizations among women, racialized peoples, indigenous peoples, youth, students, LGBT community, climate/environmental justice, independent and revolutionary labour organizations, anti-authoritarian formations, and radical intellectuals. It must be an alliance based on mutual respect, sharing of approaches to emancipation and resources and a commitment to the value that the oppressed are the architect of and the driving force behind the movement for their emancipation. It is essential that organized labour open up and transform its leadership and decision-making structures to accommodate the full inclusion of its membership, in all their diversity.
In most of our unions and locals, this means starting from the beginning and we can use this current crisis to take those first steps. There is a lot of frustration among union members and community activists over the inaction of labour’s leadership in the face of this attack - and a desire to do something about it. That frustration and desire can be channeled into building cross-union “fight back committees” that bring together trade union and community activists in a city or town, such as members of the Greater Toronto Workers Assembly have already begun to do in that city. The “fight back committees” can give us a capacity to act independently from organized labour’s leadership. And probably our first acts should be to organize general assemblies in our locals and town hall meetings in our communities to promote a working-class view of the economic crisis and to mobilize our fellow workers and neighbours around militant, grassroots resistance to the McGuinty government and all the forces promoting a new round of austerity for the working-class.
Nothing less than a self-organizing, class-struggle approach to trade unionism will put labour in a position to fight in the here-and-now, while building the road we must travel on our way to the classless and stateless society of the future.
Alex Diceanu is a member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 3906 and a graduate student at McMaster University. Ajamu Nangwaya is a member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Locals 3907 and 3902 and a graduate student at the University of Toronto. Both authors are members of the Ontario anarchist organization, Common Cause.
________________________________________
[1] Walkom, T. (2010, March 26). Liberals aim at easy targets. Toronto Star. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/ontariobudget/article/785616--walkom...
[2] Brennan, R. J. & Talaga, T. (2010, March 26) Hudak cut wages deeper. Toronto Star. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/ontariobudget/article/785343--hudak-cut-wages-deeper
[3] Benzie, R. (2010, July 20). Dwight Duncan’s wage-freeze pitch gets frosty reception. Toronto Star. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/837872--dwight-duncan-s-wage-freeze-pitch-gets-frosty-reception
[4] Benzie, July 20
[5] Hossein-zaded, I. (2010, July 23-25). Holes in the Keynesian Arguments against Neoliberal Austerity Policy—Not “Bad” Policy, But Class Policy. Retrieved from http://www.counterpunch.org/zadeh07232010.html
[6] Benzie, July 20.
[7] Hume, C. (2010, March 29). Transit still not a priority. Toronto Star. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/ttc/article/787317--transit-still-not-a-...
[8] The Canadian Press. (2010 April 1). Ontario asked to restore special diet allowance. Retrieved fromhttp://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/04/01/diet-allowance.html
9] Goddard, J., Rider, D. & Kalinoski, (2010, March 26). Miller outraged as budget sideswiped GTA transit. Toronto Star. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/785573--miller-outraged-as-budget-sideswipes-gta-transit
[10] Hossein-zaded, I, Holes in the Keynesian arguments against neoliberal austerity policy.
[11] ibid
It’s the class struggle, stupid!
Organized labour’s confused response to the McGuinty Liberals' attack on Ontario’s working-class
By Ajamu Nangwaya and Alex Diceanu
Organized labour in Ontario will continue to put forth a weak and ineffective response to attacks from the ruling class as long as it continues to ignore the reality of class struggle. A perfect example is its current response to a proposed two-year wage-freeze that the Dalton McGuinty-led Ontario government plans on imposing on unionized public sector workers. The provincial Liberals would like to save $750 million per year from a wage-freeze, so as to help manage the $19.3 billion budget deficit. Readers need not be reminded that this deficit is the result of the risky financial speculations of the captains of finance, industry and commerce that created the Great Recession of 2008.
But it is the 710,000 unionized members of the working class and 350,000 non-unionized managers and other employees who draw pay cheques from the government[1] and the users of state-provided services (and private sector workers) who are being asked to bear the burden of paying for the actions of the corporate sector. At the same time as this attempt to take income from the pockets of government workers, the McGuinty Liberals’ have granted a $4.6 billion tax-cut to the business sector.
The leader of the Ontario New Democrats, Andrea Howarth, has signaled her support for public sector workers’ acceptance of a pay cut. She asserts, "I'm quite sure when they get to the bargaining table they will do their part like everyone else does ... there is a collective bargaining process that has to be respected."[2] Wow! Who said that the working-class needs enemies with “friends” like the New Democratic Party (NDP) and its leader Andrea Horwarth?
However, it is the tame and even puzzling reaction of some of Ontario’s major labour leaders that should be of concern to workers in the public sector. The government called labour leaders and employers from the broader public sector to “consultation” talks on the wage freeze on July 19, 2010. Coming out of the talks, this was what CUPE-Ontario president Fred Hahn had to say, “This is not like the early ’90s, this is not about sharing the pain. That’s all just not true”.[3] He was referring to former NDP premier Bob Rae’s unilateral opening of public sector workers’ contracts and the imposition of public sector wage-cuts accompanied by tax increases for the corporate sector. Was Brother Hahn implying that a wage-freeze would be tolerable, if accompanied by the cancellation of the $4.6 billion corporate tax-cut?
No credible union or union leader should contemplate a zero-wage increase over two years - even if the government rescinds the $4.6 billion tax-cut. There should not have been a tax-cut for the capitalist class. Restoring the tax should not be used as a bargaining chip to escape a wage-freeze on public sector workers.
Not to be outdone was the president of the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union, Warren (Smokey) Thomas. We will leave it to you to decipher the implicit message in the following statement by Smokey Thomas. “Just because he [Minister of Finance Dwight Duncan] wants something doesn’t mean he’s going to get it. It’s not a social contract. He can propose (a wage-freeze) but he has to bargain it. He can’t legislate it. He’ll lose.”[4] Is it just us or does that sound like a labour leader who is not really in a fighting spirit and just wants to make a deal?
A simple matter of misguided policy?
However, the critical issue for Ontario’s public sector workers is the extent to which many of our labour leaders seem to be completely unaware of the state and employers’ motives for disciplining labour through wage concessions. Ismael Hossein-zaded of Drake University made the following observation, which is quite applicable to the posturing of labour leaders in Ontario:
Quote:
Viewing the savage class war of the ruling kleptocracy on the people's living and working conditions simply as “bad” policy, and hoping to somehow—presumably through smart arguments and sage advice—replace it with the “good” Keynesian policy of deficit spending without a fight, without grassroots‟ involvement and/or pressure, stems from the rather naive supposition that policy making is a simple matter of technical expertise or the benevolence of policy makers, that is, a matter of choice. The presumed choice is said to be between only two alternatives: between the stimulus or Keynesian deficit spending, on the one hand, and the Neoliberal austerity of cutting social spending, on the other.5
Based on some of the statements coming from labour leaders, they may not have gotten the memo that the attack on the working-class (through the slashing of social programme spending, attacks on private sector pensions and wage freezes) is not about good or bad economic policies. Hossein-Zedad must have been inspired to write his paper after reading the following Keynesian-inspired comment by Ontario Federation of Labour president Sid Ryan; “From a policy perspective, it makes no economic sense whatsoever. You’ve got a government saying we need to stimulate the economy. The best way of stimulating the economy is through public-sector workers who spend every single penny of their disposable income in their local communities,”[6] But it’s not about the economy, per se. It’s the class struggle, stupid!
Canada’s economic and political elite have clearly given up the ghost of Keynesian economics, which calls on government to either stimulate or restrict the demand for goods and services based on the state of the economy. In the case of the 2008 crisis in capitalism, these neoliberal players felt forced by the magnitude of the impending financial collapse to pump money into the economy. A not-too-insignificant fact was lost on many observers and commentators who gleefully cheered on the capitalist class’ “Road-to-Damascus” moment. The capitalist state in Canada and other imperialist countries will do everything within their power to maintain a business environment that facilitates the accumulation of capital or profit-making, as well as legitimize the system in the eyes of the people. That is all in a day’s work for the state…no surprise here for class conscious trade unionists and other activists!
Labour’s “Response”
We ought to note that the recent crisis in the economy caught organized labour off-guard and ill-prepared to mobilize the working-class against that monumental failure of capitalism. For decades, Western corporations and governments have been force-feeding the public a steady diet of tax-cuts. Lower taxes on businesses, high-income earners and the wealthy, the widespread slashing of social services and income support programmes, a massive reduction in state oversight and regulation of corporations and the enactment of anti-union policies and legislation have been the all rage since corporations and Western governments abandoned their class-collaborationist pact with organized labour in the 1970s. Yet at the very moment when capitalism experienced a crisis of confidence resulting from a set of policies that had been hailed as perfect ingredients for economic and social progress, organized labour was caught with its pants down. Its leaders didn’t have a class struggle alternative to Keynesian economics – an economic tendency that was never intended to be used as a tool to end wage slavery and the minority rule of bankers, industrialists and the managerial and political elite.
Presently, the labour movement is ideologically and operationally ill-prepared to effectively face down the two-year wage-freeze demand from the McGuinty Liberals. Unfortunately, labour’s leaders have, in the main, focused on narrow economic demands rather than seeking to politically develop union activists and their broader membership behind a class struggle labour movement platform. Union members have been politically deskilled and demobilized in favour of a social service model of trade unionism. These labour leaders have failed to use their unions’ courses, workshops, week-long schools, publications and other educational resources to educate members of the fact that they are a part of a distinct class with economic and political interests that are different from that of the rulers of capitalist society.
Even the most casual of observers understand that organized labour’s raison d’être is to champion the material concerns of the working-class. And yet, ideologically-speaking, most labour leaders in Canada have cast their lot in with capitalism - albeit a more Scandinavian version. This is why a coherent critique of capitalism is notably absent from most union-organized workshops and events. It should therefore not come as a surprise that many union members have swallowed the employers and politicians’ message that Canada is a largely middle-class country and that our collective aspiration should be to remain a member of this class. If the labour leaders, academics and the media say that the majority of Canadians are a part of the middle-class, it must be so. The development of a working-class consciousness becomes very difficult (but not impossible) in this kind of political environment.
The great majority of Canadians are members of the working-class. They sell their labour, exercise little to no control over how their work-life is organized, have no say over how the profit from their labour is distributed and are so alienated from work that the aphorism “Thank god it’s Friday” has its own acronym. One should never define middle-class status as one’s ability to purchase consumer trinkets, live in a mortgaged home or even own a summer cottage. Middle-class status ought to be defined by one’s exercise of power and control and/or the possession of high levels of human capital found among administrative/managerial elites in the private and public sectors, academic elites and independent professionals.
Labour’s Credibility Crisis
The narrow economic obsession of labour leaders was on plain display when Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan revealed the March 2010 Budget. When it became known that the McGuinty Liberals would be seeking a two-year wage-freeze from public sector workers, this news was all that consumed the attention of most labour leaders. Many labour functionaries scrambled around in search of external and internal legal opinions, requesting briefs from senior staff on the impact of a wage-freeze on bargaining in specific sectors and sending out correspondence to members assuring them to “just act as if nothing had happened”, because they’re “already covered by a collective agreement”. Many labour union offices’ and unionized workplaces’ anxiety was centred entirely on the desired wage-freeze by the McGuinty Liberals. Nothing else!
But today we hear labour leaders talking about keeping money in workers’ pockets to stimulate the economy and that their primary concern is maintaining public services at adequate levels. Why didn’t organized labour deploy its resources to educate and mobilize the public against the $4.6 billion corporate tax-cuts, slashing of $4 billion in transportation infrastructure spending from Metrolinx’s $9.3 billion budget7] and the scrapping of the special diet allowance that benefited over 160,000 members of the working-class for the unprincely sum of $250 million per annum and a mere monthly average of $130 per person[8]? The provincial government anticipates that the two-year wage-freeze across the public sector will net a savings of $1.5 billion – yet the previous $8.6 billion effectively stolen from the working class failed to push organized labour into action.
The leaders of organized labour did not have the imagination to energize their members and the broader citizenry in alliance with other social movement organizations over the Budget. They could have exposed the class priorities of the McGuinty Liberals. The government’s main concerns clearly have nothing to do with those of us who are poor, live from pay cheque to pay cheque and do not patronize the golf courses where McGuinty and his friends hang out when they are not screwing the public. Listen up public sector labour leaders: the people will not be fooled by your claims to be advocating for the general interest. The broader working-class just have to simply see where you direct the labour movement’s resources and they will clue into the issues that are being prioritized. Take a look at the poor, working-class and/or racialized areas that are likely to be affected by the $4 billion cut to Metrolinx’s budget:
Quote:
…the austerity moves could affect five planned projects: rapid transit lines for Finch Ave. W., Sheppard Ave. E. and the Scarborough RT, along with the Eglinton Ave. cross-town line and an expansion of York region’s Viva service.[9]
Are we to believe that a class-struggle and anti-oppression informed public education, organizing and mobilization campaign in defense of public services, the social wage and a livable wage would not have had some level of traction with the people of Ontario?
An alternative economic plan or a different labour movement?
In some quarters of the trade union sector, there are talks of presenting an alternative plan to the slash-and-burn neoliberal policies of the provincial government. But, the presentation of Keynesian economic proposals by labour leaders is useless in a climate where the ruling class doesn’t feel threatened by a politically mobilized population, especially without “compelling grassroots pressure on policy makers”.[10] We implied earlier that labour unions have a credibility gap with the broader public if they now assert a desire to “broaden the debate, educate community members and local politicians with a view to engaging in actions that protect public services and build strong communities” as outlined by one union. What would be the purpose of the alternative plans of these labour leaders? The status quo of the 1930s to the 1960s that gave rise to the welfare state is not a transformative option.
There is no such thing as a “contextless” context. Where is the necessary political environment that would force the state to make concessions to the working-class out of fear that they maybe inclined to embrace revolutionary options? When some labour leaders are loosely talking about coming up with an alternative (Keynesian economic plan?) stimulus proposal, they would do well to understand the political implications of the following statement:
Quote:
Keynesian economists seem to be unmindful of this fundamental relationship between economics and politics. Instead, they view economic policies as the outcome of the battle of ideas, not of class forces or interests. And herein lies one of the principal weaknesses of their argument: viewing the Keynesian/New Deal/Social Democratic reforms of the 1930s through the 1960s as the product of Keynes’ or F.D.R.’s genius, or the goodness of their hearts; not of the compelling pressure exerted by the revolutionary movements of that period on the national policy makers to “implement reform in order to prevent revolution,” as F.D.R. famously put it. This explains why economic policy makers of today are not listening to Keynesian arguments—powerful and elegant as they are—because there would be no Keynesian, New Deal, or Social-Democratic economics without revolutionary pressure from the people.[11]
However, when labour leaders shy away from speaking openly about class-struggle and the nature of our economic system, we have a serious problem. It means that they are not in a position to facilitate a class-struggle, democracy-from-below and self-organizing form of trade unionism.
In order fight this attack on the working-class of Ontario, the labour movements’ rank-and-file activists, progressive leaders and principled labour socialists must engage in shop-floor education, organizing and mobilizing that is centred on a class-struggle, anti-racist and anti-oppression campaign. This approach to labour activism must be done in alliance with progressive or radical social movement organizations among women, racialized peoples, indigenous peoples, youth, students, LGBT community, climate/environmental justice, independent and revolutionary labour organizations, anti-authoritarian formations, and radical intellectuals. It must be an alliance based on mutual respect, sharing of approaches to emancipation and resources and a commitment to the value that the oppressed are the architect of and the driving force behind the movement for their emancipation. It is essential that organized labour open up and transform its leadership and decision-making structures to accommodate the full inclusion of its membership, in all their diversity.
In most of our unions and locals, this means starting from the beginning and we can use this current crisis to take those first steps. There is a lot of frustration among union members and community activists over the inaction of labour’s leadership in the face of this attack - and a desire to do something about it. That frustration and desire can be channeled into building cross-union “fight back committees” that bring together trade union and community activists in a city or town, such as members of the Greater Toronto Workers Assembly have already begun to do in that city. The “fight back committees” can give us a capacity to act independently from organized labour’s leadership. And probably our first acts should be to organize general assemblies in our locals and town hall meetings in our communities to promote a working-class view of the economic crisis and to mobilize our fellow workers and neighbours around militant, grassroots resistance to the McGuinty government and all the forces promoting a new round of austerity for the working-class.
Nothing less than a self-organizing, class-struggle approach to trade unionism will put labour in a position to fight in the here-and-now, while building the road we must travel on our way to the classless and stateless society of the future.
Alex Diceanu is a member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 3906 and a graduate student at McMaster University. Ajamu Nangwaya is a member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Locals 3907 and 3902 and a graduate student at the University of Toronto. Both authors are members of the Ontario anarchist organization, Common Cause.
________________________________________
[1] Walkom, T. (2010, March 26). Liberals aim at easy targets. Toronto Star. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/ontariobudget/article/785616--walkom...
[2] Brennan, R. J. & Talaga, T. (2010, March 26) Hudak cut wages deeper. Toronto Star. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/ontariobudget/article/785343--hudak-cut-wages-deeper
[3] Benzie, R. (2010, July 20). Dwight Duncan’s wage-freeze pitch gets frosty reception. Toronto Star. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/837872--dwight-duncan-s-wage-freeze-pitch-gets-frosty-reception
[4] Benzie, July 20
[5] Hossein-zaded, I. (2010, July 23-25). Holes in the Keynesian Arguments against Neoliberal Austerity Policy—Not “Bad” Policy, But Class Policy. Retrieved from http://www.counterpunch.org/zadeh07232010.html
[6] Benzie, July 20.
[7] Hume, C. (2010, March 29). Transit still not a priority. Toronto Star. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/ttc/article/787317--transit-still-not-a-...
[8] The Canadian Press. (2010 April 1). Ontario asked to restore special diet allowance. Retrieved fromhttp://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/04/01/diet-allowance.html
9] Goddard, J., Rider, D. & Kalinoski, (2010, March 26). Miller outraged as budget sideswiped GTA transit. Toronto Star. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/785573--miller-outraged-as-budget-sideswipes-gta-transit
[10] Hossein-zaded, I, Holes in the Keynesian arguments against neoliberal austerity policy.
[11] ibid
Labels: anarchism, anarchist theory, Canadian labour, Common Cause, labour, Linchpin, Ontario, platformism, tactics
Sunday, September 05, 2010
CANADIAN LABOUR TORONTO:
FANTASY MEETS REALITY AT THE TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL:
The Toronto International Film Festival opened on Friday, and delegates were treated to a demonstration of the frustration of the workers employed by the host hotel. The workers of the Hyatt Regency, represented by Unite Here Local 75, staged a one day walkout to protest management intransigence in contract talks. Here's the story from a union press release.
OLOLOLOLOL
Hotel workers forced to take one-day strike at Hyatt Regency Toronto
Film industry unions support workers striking against TIFF hotel headquarters
TORONTO--Hotel workers at the Hyatt Regency, home of this year's Toronto International Film Festival, have begun a one-day walkout after they bargained past a midnight deadline without reaching a new agreement.
Picketing is to begin at 7:30 a.m. this morning. A massive rally of hotel workers and others from across the city will take place at 5:30 p.m. today in front of the hotel. Unions from the film sector will rally in support of the hotel workers, saying that good hotel jobs, like good film jobs, are vital for the economic health of the city.
"We will be holding one day of action on Friday and will be back to work on Saturday," explained Althea Porter-Harvey, a Hyatt employee and member of UNITE HERE Local 75 which represents the workers. "We are still hopeful we can reach an agreement."
"While we're struggling to make hotel jobs good jobs, these wealthy owners keep buying and selling properties and treating us as if we still in a recession," Porter-Harvey continued. "The Mangalji and Pritzker families, who own and operate these hotels, need to have more regard for hotel workers. All we are asking is that they not lock in the recession for their workers, because the recession is over in the hotel sector."
The Hyatt, the host hotel for the Toronto International Film Festival opening next Thursday, is owned by the little-known Mangalji family and operated by the Pritzker family, which cashed out over $900 million in their sale of Hyatt shares in late 2009.
"Our industry spends a lot of money on hotels and it's frankly shocking to discover that the people who work so hard to make up the rooms we're paying for are being treated so poorly," said Heather Allin, President of ACTRA Toronto. "If Toronto's hotel workers cannot resolve relations with Hyatt to ensure workers are treated with respect, then my union will support Hyatt workers in this city and across the continent. They deserve to make a decent living from the work they do. Hyatt will face a determined boycott if they aren't fair to the hard working people who make their hotels possible."
The hotel workers have sent a public statement to TIFF Festival chief Piers Handling stating that despite the fact most contracts expired on 1/31/2010,
We exercised restraint, had a limited strike at the Novotel Toronto Centre, and did not strike during the G20. We have continued to work through Caribana and Pride and the busy summer tourist season. All the while we have been bargaining with some of the biggest hotel chains in an attempt to get a decent new contract. To no avail. At not a single hotel has management attempted to get a decent new contract… We are aware that [the Hyatt] is a central hotel to the Toronto International Film Festival. There is a legal strike/lockout deadline of September 3, 2010. It is also a hotel chain with examples of shameful treatment of its workers both here and around North America.
In both Canada and the U.S., the hotel industry is rebounding faster and stronger than expected but hotel workers are not sharing in that improved fortune. During the first quarter of 2010, occupancy and average daily hotel rates increased nationwide, leading to a 2.77% increase in RevPAR, or Revenue per Available Room, nationwide, according to Smith Travel Research and Hospitality Valuation Services data.
Local 75 represents over 7,000 hotel, hospitality and gaming workers in the Greater Toronto Area. For more information, please visit www.uniteherelocal75.org .
Hotel workers forced to take one-day strike at Hyatt Regency Toronto
Film industry unions support workers striking against TIFF hotel headquarters
TORONTO--Hotel workers at the Hyatt Regency, home of this year's Toronto International Film Festival, have begun a one-day walkout after they bargained past a midnight deadline without reaching a new agreement.
Picketing is to begin at 7:30 a.m. this morning. A massive rally of hotel workers and others from across the city will take place at 5:30 p.m. today in front of the hotel. Unions from the film sector will rally in support of the hotel workers, saying that good hotel jobs, like good film jobs, are vital for the economic health of the city.
"We will be holding one day of action on Friday and will be back to work on Saturday," explained Althea Porter-Harvey, a Hyatt employee and member of UNITE HERE Local 75 which represents the workers. "We are still hopeful we can reach an agreement."
"While we're struggling to make hotel jobs good jobs, these wealthy owners keep buying and selling properties and treating us as if we still in a recession," Porter-Harvey continued. "The Mangalji and Pritzker families, who own and operate these hotels, need to have more regard for hotel workers. All we are asking is that they not lock in the recession for their workers, because the recession is over in the hotel sector."
The Hyatt, the host hotel for the Toronto International Film Festival opening next Thursday, is owned by the little-known Mangalji family and operated by the Pritzker family, which cashed out over $900 million in their sale of Hyatt shares in late 2009.
"Our industry spends a lot of money on hotels and it's frankly shocking to discover that the people who work so hard to make up the rooms we're paying for are being treated so poorly," said Heather Allin, President of ACTRA Toronto. "If Toronto's hotel workers cannot resolve relations with Hyatt to ensure workers are treated with respect, then my union will support Hyatt workers in this city and across the continent. They deserve to make a decent living from the work they do. Hyatt will face a determined boycott if they aren't fair to the hard working people who make their hotels possible."
The hotel workers have sent a public statement to TIFF Festival chief Piers Handling stating that despite the fact most contracts expired on 1/31/2010,
We exercised restraint, had a limited strike at the Novotel Toronto Centre, and did not strike during the G20. We have continued to work through Caribana and Pride and the busy summer tourist season. All the while we have been bargaining with some of the biggest hotel chains in an attempt to get a decent new contract. To no avail. At not a single hotel has management attempted to get a decent new contract… We are aware that [the Hyatt] is a central hotel to the Toronto International Film Festival. There is a legal strike/lockout deadline of September 3, 2010. It is also a hotel chain with examples of shameful treatment of its workers both here and around North America.
In both Canada and the U.S., the hotel industry is rebounding faster and stronger than expected but hotel workers are not sharing in that improved fortune. During the first quarter of 2010, occupancy and average daily hotel rates increased nationwide, leading to a 2.77% increase in RevPAR, or Revenue per Available Room, nationwide, according to Smith Travel Research and Hospitality Valuation Services data.
Local 75 represents over 7,000 hotel, hospitality and gaming workers in the Greater Toronto Area. For more information, please visit www.uniteherelocal75.org .
Labels: Canadian labour, labour, strike., Toronto, Toronto International Film Festival, Unite Here
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
CANADIAN LABOUR BRITISH COLUMBIA:
CHARGES FINALLY LAID TWO YEARS LATER AFTER MUSHROOM FARM DEATHS:
No one can accuse the "justice" system of being in undue haste over this one. Two years after 3 workers were killed and two others injured at an industrial accident on a Langley BC mushroom farm charges against the companies involved and their officers have finally been laid. Here's a statement form the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) on the charges.
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Charges laid in deaths of mushroom farm workers
Two companies and four corporate officials face a total of 29 charges for failure to protect the safety of employees.
Vancouver (1 Sept. 2010) - Charges have finally been laid after two years in the deaths of three mushroom farm workers at a Langley, B.C. mushroom farm. Two others were seriously hurt.
The Crown says the two companies, A-1 Mushroom Substratum Ltd. and H.V. Truong Ltd., are charged as employers, while the four individuals are charged as either directors or officers of the companies or workplaces. They face a total of 29 charges.
The offenses all fall under the province’s worker safety laws and can result in fines of up to $619,721 and six months in jail. The charges allege failure to protect workers from “reasonably foreseeable health or safety hazards.”
The workers were overcome by gas in an enclosed space at the mushroom farm and composting plant on Sept. 5, 2008.
Donna Freeman of WorkSafe BC said at the time that it was one of the most complex investigations the agency had conducted, with more than 25 investigators on the file.
Charges laid in deaths of mushroom farm workers
Two companies and four corporate officials face a total of 29 charges for failure to protect the safety of employees.
Vancouver (1 Sept. 2010) - Charges have finally been laid after two years in the deaths of three mushroom farm workers at a Langley, B.C. mushroom farm. Two others were seriously hurt.
The Crown says the two companies, A-1 Mushroom Substratum Ltd. and H.V. Truong Ltd., are charged as employers, while the four individuals are charged as either directors or officers of the companies or workplaces. They face a total of 29 charges.
The offenses all fall under the province’s worker safety laws and can result in fines of up to $619,721 and six months in jail. The charges allege failure to protect workers from “reasonably foreseeable health or safety hazards.”
The workers were overcome by gas in an enclosed space at the mushroom farm and composting plant on Sept. 5, 2008.
Donna Freeman of WorkSafe BC said at the time that it was one of the most complex investigations the agency had conducted, with more than 25 investigators on the file.
BCLBCLBCLBCL
Here's a larger overview of the case from the Vancouver Sun.
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29 charges laid in 2008 mushroom farm deaths
Three men were killed, two suffered brain damage at Langley facility
By Doug Ward, Vancouver Sun August 31, 2010
29 charges laid in 2008 mushroom farm deaths
Three men were killed, two suffered brain damage at Langley facility
By Doug Ward, Vancouver Sun August 31, 2010
Relatives of three men who died and two others who were severely disabled in a gas leak two years ago on a Langley mushroom farm are pleased that charges have been laid in the case -- but said even the maximum penalty of six months against the farm operators wouldn't be enough to end the pain caused by the tragedy.
Family members thanked government for proceeding with charges under the Workers' Compensation Act and Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, but during brief comments at a news conference broke down as they told of the outrage and loss they continue to endure.
Tracey Phan, a 14-year-old student at Winston Churchill Secondary, said it's heartbreaking for her and her sister to visit their father Michael Phan, who suffered irreversible brain damage and remains in hospital.
'It's hard on us. We don't know if he recognizes us or not. Or if he understands what we are trying to tell him. I would like to get justice back."
A-1 Mushroom Substratum Ltd. and H.V. Troung Ltd., along with four individual employers and supervisors, could face a range of penalties, up to a maximum fine of $619,271 for a first offence and six months in jail.
For Phan and other relatives who spoke, the maximum penalties aren't enough.
"I know that the law says that under that charge six months is the maximum. But I feel that six months is not enough because people that you love will never be given back to you. And six months sitting in that jail cell will never return any of the ones who you loved or cared about."
The charges laid Monday stem from a 20-month investigation by WorkSafeBC into what went wrong at the mushroom composting facility at 23751 16th Avenue in Langley.
"We are pleased that the charges are proceeding," said WorkSafeBC spokeswoman Donna Freeman. "This was a very serious incident in which three people lost their lives, two others were severely injured and the lives of all the family members were changed forever."
Freeman described the agency's probe as the "most complex investigation in WorkSafeBC's history."
Twenty-nine counts have been filed, including several alleging that the companies and their officials failed to ensure the health and safety of its workers and failed to remedy hazardous workplace conditions.
Freeman said the investigation report included tens of thousands of pages of documentation. She said the mushroom composting operation ceased after the accident but that the mushroom farm still operates at the same location.
The probe was delayed initially because of the presence of hazardous materials in the composting operation for seven months following the tragedy, she added.
Ut Tran, Jimmy Chan and Ham Pham died in the incident. Their colleagues, Phan and Thang Tchen, suffered irreversible brain damage after breathing in hydrogen sulphide and ammonia.
In addition to A-1 Mushroom Substratum Ltd. and H.V. Truong Ltd., Ha Qua Truong, Vy Tri Truong, Van Thi Truong and Thinh Huu Doan were charged in the information sworn in Provincial Court in Surrey.
B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair said he hopes the charges will force other farm operations to fix unsafe conditions.
"Perhaps these charges will result in some other employers understanding that unsafe work conditions are not acceptable in B.C.," said Sinclair.
The B.C. Fed president said that inspections on farm sites need to be stiffened to stop fatal accidents before they happen.
"The problem is that people think they can get away with this," he added.
Labour Minister Murray Coell said he hopes the charges in the case will lead to an appropriate resolution, especially for the families of those who died.
"I understand how the families feel. I've met with them," Coell told reporters in Victoria.
"I think what we want to see is to make sure that due process and justice is done and that's best done through the courts," he added. "I think due process is now moving forward."
dward@vancouversun.com with files from Jonathan Fowlie
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/charges+laid+2008+mushroom+farm+deaths/3463095/story.html#ixzz0yKXBogSh
Family members thanked government for proceeding with charges under the Workers' Compensation Act and Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, but during brief comments at a news conference broke down as they told of the outrage and loss they continue to endure.
Tracey Phan, a 14-year-old student at Winston Churchill Secondary, said it's heartbreaking for her and her sister to visit their father Michael Phan, who suffered irreversible brain damage and remains in hospital.
'It's hard on us. We don't know if he recognizes us or not. Or if he understands what we are trying to tell him. I would like to get justice back."
A-1 Mushroom Substratum Ltd. and H.V. Troung Ltd., along with four individual employers and supervisors, could face a range of penalties, up to a maximum fine of $619,271 for a first offence and six months in jail.
For Phan and other relatives who spoke, the maximum penalties aren't enough.
"I know that the law says that under that charge six months is the maximum. But I feel that six months is not enough because people that you love will never be given back to you. And six months sitting in that jail cell will never return any of the ones who you loved or cared about."
The charges laid Monday stem from a 20-month investigation by WorkSafeBC into what went wrong at the mushroom composting facility at 23751 16th Avenue in Langley.
"We are pleased that the charges are proceeding," said WorkSafeBC spokeswoman Donna Freeman. "This was a very serious incident in which three people lost their lives, two others were severely injured and the lives of all the family members were changed forever."
Freeman described the agency's probe as the "most complex investigation in WorkSafeBC's history."
Twenty-nine counts have been filed, including several alleging that the companies and their officials failed to ensure the health and safety of its workers and failed to remedy hazardous workplace conditions.
Freeman said the investigation report included tens of thousands of pages of documentation. She said the mushroom composting operation ceased after the accident but that the mushroom farm still operates at the same location.
The probe was delayed initially because of the presence of hazardous materials in the composting operation for seven months following the tragedy, she added.
Ut Tran, Jimmy Chan and Ham Pham died in the incident. Their colleagues, Phan and Thang Tchen, suffered irreversible brain damage after breathing in hydrogen sulphide and ammonia.
In addition to A-1 Mushroom Substratum Ltd. and H.V. Truong Ltd., Ha Qua Truong, Vy Tri Truong, Van Thi Truong and Thinh Huu Doan were charged in the information sworn in Provincial Court in Surrey.
B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair said he hopes the charges will force other farm operations to fix unsafe conditions.
"Perhaps these charges will result in some other employers understanding that unsafe work conditions are not acceptable in B.C.," said Sinclair.
The B.C. Fed president said that inspections on farm sites need to be stiffened to stop fatal accidents before they happen.
"The problem is that people think they can get away with this," he added.
Labour Minister Murray Coell said he hopes the charges in the case will lead to an appropriate resolution, especially for the families of those who died.
"I understand how the families feel. I've met with them," Coell told reporters in Victoria.
"I think what we want to see is to make sure that due process and justice is done and that's best done through the courts," he added. "I think due process is now moving forward."
dward@vancouversun.com with files from Jonathan Fowlie
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/charges+laid+2008+mushroom+farm+deaths/3463095/story.html#ixzz0yKXBogSh
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And here is how the BC Federation of Labour views these charges.
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Long-awaited charges positive news in mushroom farm deaths but questions remain
September 1, 2010
The BC Federation of Labour is welcoming news that charges have finally been laid against two companies and four individuals in the deaths of three workers at a mushroom farm in Langley on September 5, 2008.
"The families of the men who were killed and injured have waited a long time for news that charges have been laid," says Jim Sinclair, President of the B.C. Federation of Labour. "This is a step in the right direction and sends a message to employers that they face potential jail time if they fail to provide safe workplaces."
The owners of the mushroom farm are facing sweeping charges that include failure to provide adequate training, supervision, safety programs, identification of hazards and confined space precautions.
"We hope that justice will be done, but given the fact that three men were killed and two grievously injured, and the sweeping nature of the 29 charges laid by the Crown, we must question why criminal charges were not laid in this case," Sinclair says.
The Federation also questions the length of time it took for the WCB to complete its investigation and the laying of charges.
"It has taken two full years for charges to be laid and it is entirely possible that this case will not go to court for many more months. This is far too long in a situation where lives have been lost and other farmworkers lives could be at risk. These investigations and prosecutions need to be completed faster in order to make workplaces safer."
The Federation is also calling for the release of the WCB investigation report into the mushroom farm incident. The WCB is withholding the report until the prosecution is complete.
"The families of the men killed and injured at this mushroom farm are entitled to see the WCB report. They should not have to wait months or years to find out what happened that day," Sinclair says.
"These charges attest to the fact that too many farmworkers face unsafe working conditions every day in our province," Sinclair added. "We need a full public inquiry into working conditions in the agricultural sector to ensure that farmworkers aren't treated like second class citizens."
For more information: Evan Stewart Director of Communications (604) 430-1421.
Long-awaited charges positive news in mushroom farm deaths but questions remain
September 1, 2010
The BC Federation of Labour is welcoming news that charges have finally been laid against two companies and four individuals in the deaths of three workers at a mushroom farm in Langley on September 5, 2008.
"The families of the men who were killed and injured have waited a long time for news that charges have been laid," says Jim Sinclair, President of the B.C. Federation of Labour. "This is a step in the right direction and sends a message to employers that they face potential jail time if they fail to provide safe workplaces."
The owners of the mushroom farm are facing sweeping charges that include failure to provide adequate training, supervision, safety programs, identification of hazards and confined space precautions.
"We hope that justice will be done, but given the fact that three men were killed and two grievously injured, and the sweeping nature of the 29 charges laid by the Crown, we must question why criminal charges were not laid in this case," Sinclair says.
The Federation also questions the length of time it took for the WCB to complete its investigation and the laying of charges.
"It has taken two full years for charges to be laid and it is entirely possible that this case will not go to court for many more months. This is far too long in a situation where lives have been lost and other farmworkers lives could be at risk. These investigations and prosecutions need to be completed faster in order to make workplaces safer."
The Federation is also calling for the release of the WCB investigation report into the mushroom farm incident. The WCB is withholding the report until the prosecution is complete.
"The families of the men killed and injured at this mushroom farm are entitled to see the WCB report. They should not have to wait months or years to find out what happened that day," Sinclair says.
"These charges attest to the fact that too many farmworkers face unsafe working conditions every day in our province," Sinclair added. "We need a full public inquiry into working conditions in the agricultural sector to ensure that farmworkers aren't treated like second class citizens."
For more information: Evan Stewart Director of Communications (604) 430-1421.
Labels: BC, British Columbia, Canadian labour, Corporate criminals, deaths, labour, National Union of Public and General Employees BC Federation of labour, Vancouver Sun, workplace deaths, workplace safety
