Fellow Workers organizing with the Street Labourers of Windsor (SLOW) gained national media attention – positive and negative – this last August for its stand against iron spikes on Windsor planters. Panhandlers of SLOW said the initiative, led by the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association, targeted panhandlers and interfered with their ability to make a living.
The union is also known as the Windsor Panhandlers and Buskers Union, who IWW members first learned about in the January/February edition of the Industrial Worker newspaper. (See the article.)
Here is a list of coverage as it has unfolded to date:
July 15, 2015: Windsor Independent article: Fallen through the cracks: Who are Windsor’s Panhandlers?
August 19, 2015: Windsor Star and National Post news article: Windsor’s panhandlers and street performers unionize for ‘rights everyone else has’ (includes video).
August 20, 2015: Yahoo News Daily Brew article: Windsor panhandlers, street performers unionizing
August 20, 2015: Vice Canada news article: Windsor Panhandlers Want to Unionize
August 21, 2015: CBC report: New Windsor union includes city’s panhandlers and buskers (includes CBC radio interview)
August 26, 2015: Calgary Herald editorial: Unionized Begging. This screed completely misses the point that all people need to be treated with dignity, regardless of how they make a living.
November 18, 2015: Windsor Star: Solidarity Forever: Windsor panhandlers’ collective to open Union Hall on Tecumseh Road.
November 18, 2015: CBC News website: Street Labourers of Windsor Set Up Union Hall
Disclaimer: This article does not represent the official policy of the IWW Canadian Regional Organizing Committee.
